A representative selection, well-rendered into English, of a lushly philosophical poet.
A generous selection of poems, many of them previously untranslated, by the Nobel Prize–winning Polish poet, with an introduction by Czeslaw Milosz. The translator has arranged the selections thematically, each beginning with the image of a Szymborska woodcut and a quotation plucked from the poems. The themes are not explicitly stated, but easy to read off the poetry: History, Humanity, Epistemology, and others. Although many of these poems are lyrics, the speaker is vigorously cleansed of idiosyncrasy, of personal memory, and of any but the most abstracted physical debts (“the body is and is and is / and has no place to go,” ends “Torture”). At her most ambitious, Szymborska rattles the chains of consciousness itself: of a grain of sand, for example, she notes, “Our glance, our touch, do nothing for it. / It does not feel seen or touched. / Its falling onto the windowsill / Is only our adventure.” This is a wonderful observation, one perhaps only a philosophically minded poet could arrive at, but height has its disadvantages too, as when conclusions are too neatly clinched: “Every beginning, after all, / Is nothing but a sequel, / And the book of events / is always open in the middle.” In a winningly self-deprecating poem, Szymborska offers “My apologies to large questions for small answers.” It is rarely the size of Szymborska’s answers that seem at fault—they are more typically commensurate with the questions that provoked them—but the notion that, of all responses, an answer will usually do best. All this might only be the price of lucidity, and Szymborska’s poetry is among the most intelligent anywhere. Its playfulness and logic are nicely conveyed by the translator, who also provides helpful annotations and a brief biographical sketch.
A representative selection, well-rendered into English, of a lushly philosophical poet.Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-393-04939-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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