I loved the first two sections and the concluding essay*; the other pieces I was more neutral on. Star ratings feel particularly silly for this kind of reading experience, but.

*Well, the concluding essay was frequently horrifying because it so deeply excavates certain pervasive strains of patriarchal self-conception (and, always through the self, a conception of the world). But informative, enlightening even. ( )

found at Powells early spring ( )

Anne Carson's poems here are confessional in a very unexpected way. She creates chimeras of personal history, literary critique, and surreal and macabre humor. She blues the boundaries of prose and poetry concretely, in that she isn't writing "prose poems" but crafting a style that is completely her own. Her speculative but obsessive examinations of God and religion presented here are utterly fascinating in the radical and bizarre images she applies to them.

To call these images Rilkean would be an approximation, but a misnomer. To say she is confessional in the way of Plath or Sexton would be altogether misleading. Carson has an style of form and subject that is altogether different and challenging. Though her approach doesn't always come off, the consequences are but a few unrealized moments in a collection that on the whole astounds. The essay that finishes this book "The Gender is Sound" is spectacular and essential reading to anyone interested in classicism or feminist literary criticism. ( )

Poetry

Throughout the reading of The Glass Essay, the first narrative poem in this book I couldn't help but think what a truly gifted poet Carson is. Even more compelling is the fact that the entire narrative centers on lost love and the complex emotions felt in the midst of that experience. Every word in this much too short work is impactful and moving and I felt every word of it. I now have a new favorite poet! ( )

Essential reading. Anne Carson's intelligence is blistering, her confidence breathtaking. The first piece in the book floored me. One of my all-time favorite books.