Virgin of Bennington

Rating:
Summary: An honest. .
Review: . . . with a somewhat misleading title, autobiographical "look back" at the influences which shaped the life of the author, poet Nathleen Norris.

From her extremely sheltered background to the crazed culture of drugs and sex at Bennington in the late 1960's through her own personal conversion experience, this book traces the life -- and loves -- of an extraordinary 20th century American woman.

The book will not satisfy all. The ultra-conservative will be uncomfortable with the sexual honesty expressed by the author; the far-left will be equally uncomfortable with the author's spiritual awakening and personal conversion. Those persons either too young to remember or too old to have been quite so involved in the whirlwind which "was" the late '60's and early '70's in the United States will be uncomfortable with the author's honesty about her own activities, both positive and negative.

Nevertheless, the story is in the journey -- and the journey is told with depth, with clarity, and with honesty.

Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Was the title picked by someone who had read the book?
Review: A valuable history of several decades of poetry and "poetry politics" in the United States. As many other reviewers have noted, the title has little connection, however, to the contents. This fact was annoying to me, and perhaps detracted from my appreciation of the book's contents.

Rating:
Summary: Was the title picked by someone who had read the book?
Review: A valuable history of several decades of poetry and "poetry politics" in the United States. As many other reviewers have noted, the title has little connection, however, to the contents. This fact was annoying to me, and perhaps detracted from my appreciation of the book's contents.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful memories, a good read.
Review: Good book to read with a cup of coffee. I would like a sequel please! Perhaps a more detailed look at life after having moved to South Dakota? Just a thought....

Rating:
Summary: A flawed, but illuminating memoir
Review: Good people should not write memoirs. In The Virgin of Bennington, Kathleen Norris recalls Elizabeth Kray, long time doyen of the Manhattan poetry world. Norris serves as tour guide through the glittering world of arts and literature as the baby boom generation was coming of age. In a milieu of sex, drugs and rampant psychoses, Kray and the Academy of American Poets provided a stable and sober structure for the dissemination of poetry and the sustenance of poets. Norris, as an employee of the Academy, a poet, and friend and companion of Kray, takes us on a bus tour of the Manhattan arts scene during this era. The problem is that Norris' basic decency works against the narrative. In abiding by the maxim "If you can't say anything good about a person, just mention their name" Norris brings us to a party and points out all the glitterati in the room, but doesn't introduce us to them.

Beyond the name-dropping, there is much to be gotten from this book. Norris gives us a good look at the passion for poetry that was the core of Elizabeth Kray's being. She introduces us to the idea that poetry is to be heard, not read. Norris also shows us how poetry, good poetry, that is, is not genteel and delicate. It is hard-edged and difficult. It is passionate. Maybe this is why the only poetry that most contemporary Americans are exposed to is in songs. Maybe it also explains the (to me) incomprehensible popularity of hip-hop.

In sum, The Virgin of Bennington is not about virginity, nor is it (except for the brief introductory chapter) about Bennington. It is about an extraordinary person, Betty Kray, and her exceptional creativity and energy in the service of poetry. It is also, indirectly, a story about the love that one gifted artist has for her mentor.

Rating:
Summary: False Advertising - but some good moments
Review: I picked up this book at the airport bookstore coming home from a vacation in the Bahamas. I was starved for something reasonably meaty to read having failed to bring enough books with me and having forgotten that they don't have Borders in Freeport. I hadn't read anything by Kathleen Norris but this book looked like an interesting, thoughtful coming of age story from the era during which I went to college.

It seemed to start out that way. The first few chapters were an enjoyable retelling of the author's experience at Bennington where she was the proverbial "fish out of water". Those chapters were well written and fun to read.

Then she went on to tell of her time as a young woman in New York City. Here the book derailed into more of a biography (hagiography might be a better description) of her mentor. If I were into the politics of the small world of modern poets, this might have been interesting. Instead, I found it laborious and not very interesting reading. Since I work in the publishing industry (although not in New York) and have occassionally been involved in business with some of the bigger publishing companies, it might have been fun to read about the politics of the publishing world. But this book was too narrow for that.

The were parts though from time to time that were interesting, and I did enjoy the first chapter. I think this book sets the reader up for disappointed by its title and what it seems to promise on the cover. But I think if the book were more appropriately described its audience would be very small.

Rating:
Summary: Another Good Book from Kathleen Norris
Review: I purchased this book the day it came out and returned to my favorite bookstore a few days later to find a large display of "The Virgin of Bennington" with the description "Sex, Drugs and Poetry". If you are looking for the first two, you would find more in a few minutes of a sitcom. Poetry, however, is the main context in which Norris tells the story of ten years of her life, from entering college to moving to her mother's childhood home in South Dakota. While the world of late sixties-early seventies poetry may not seem the most interesting of subjects, Norris mananges to hold the reader's interest until we encounter the real subject, Elizabeth Kray, the arts administrator who headed the Academy of American Poets.

Norris' abilities as a storyteller were evident in her earlier works, especially "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography", and again she takes what might be for some an uninteresting subject and grabs our attention. Readers who are looking for a spiritual read similar to Norris' earlier prose may be disappointed, but I feel that Norris probably sees God's hand in her experiences with Kray.

Highly recommended, well-written and, more importantly, well thought out.

Rating:
Summary: A great biography of Betty Kray
Review: If you're looking for a juicy read, this isn't it. If you're looking for more about the author Kathleen Norris, this will provide you with new information about her, but only about five percent of the material in the book covers her life at Bennington, and maybe 15 percent more covers her life in the '60s. The rest is an excellent biography about Betty Kray and her work at the Academy of American Poets. The book gives great incite into the workings of the Academy and its important contribution to poetry in the United States. Norris gives glimpses of the lives of various poets popular in the '60s.
Don't expect a spiritual revelation from this book. Do expect to learn a great deal about Betty Kray.

Rating:
Summary: Introducing a Virgin: Miss Marketed
Review: The Virgin of Bennington by Kathleen Norris is misnamed, mismarketed and misleading to potential readers. Described as a memoir beginning at Bennington college and moving on to her first years in New York, the book focuses much less on Norris's coming of age than it does on the events before, during and after her friendship with Betty Kray, the executive director of the Academy of American Poets.

The primary fault with the book does not lie with the author, who admits at the end of the first chapter that the story begins with "an untidy but cheerful job interview" at the end of her college years. It lies instead with whoever decided to sensationalize what could be described as a quiet but interesting book of tribute to a woman who devoted herself to poets and poetry. Norris's prose is clear and easy to read. But her description of her brushes with famous and not-so-famous poets in New York in the 1970's are not that interesting, as the encounters themselves tend to be of the mundane variety. The true kernel of this book is Norris's love and admiration for Elizabeth Kray, which is only briefly alluded to on the book's cover. In sum, a bit of a disappointment.

For a true coming-of-age memoir, check out Susanna Kaysen's Girl Interrupted or the more recent humorously written Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: This book has been poorly reviewed by the professional reviewers, and I believe Kathleen Norris has been badly advised by her editor. Perhaps it should have been entitled, "The Mentorship of KATHLEEN NORRIS, famous author, with biographical notes on her mentor." That is snottier than I had intended, but it does describe my feelings. I have read Norris' earlier works with great interest and benefit. I have recommended her books and poetry to many privately and in public places, but this book will receive none of that from me. There are at least three good books Norris could have written (a) a thoughtful, creative, but not didactic review of a Bennington education, (b) a coming-of-age memoir up to the time of the writing of "Dakota", and (c) a biography of Betty Kray, a person whose life sounds very worthy of a good biography. I give this book two stars out of deep respect for what Norris has meant to me in the past.