Rating: 
Summary: why not?
Review: either you will like this book or you won't. you will buy this book or you will buy the new dean koontz novel. if there is one. there is a good chance you will enjoy mr. berman's observations and insights, but i suppose there are people that won't. but that's ok. it's just allright. it's the finest collection of essays and poetry i've ever read, but i could be wrong, and you could do a lot worse. take a gamble, mr. disposable-income-face! i dare you.
Rating: 
Summary: over rated diss-appointment
Review: ha ha ha. or dare i say blah blah blah. truth be told, it is a highly contrived, very workshop type of experience reading this book. poetry written for hipsters. stunningly pretentious. a close read and a glance at other reviews will show only how desperate we are for some great writer to come along. i've had ingrown toenails that are more inspirational. abandon ship!
Rating: 
Summary: great---not as good as fear and loathing in las vegas
Review: he has more living to do in this respect but hey at 35 there's a lot under the belt--------------- i was particularly surprised and turned on by his use of many royal trux lyrics in his book----------- i say give me more more more
Rating:
Summary: As good as a Jews album, which is a good thing....
Review: I bought this because I love the Silver Jews and Berman's words are probably the best part of their music. Like his lyrics, this is brilliant, thought-provoking, and clever... not pretensious at all in my opinion (see guy below). The best description that keeps popping into my head is "full of revelations".. maybe *that* is pretensious but that's what i think. My favorite "revelation" (or "pretensious" moment, if you think): "As a way of getting in touch with my origins / every night I set the alarm clock / for the time I was born, so that waking up / becomes a historical reenactment". Simply a very enjoyable, funny read all the way through. If you like the Joos, get this. If you like this, get some Silver Jews. If you don't know either...try one!
Rating:
Summary: Very cool.
Review: I like poetry, but I don't really know where to look for the kind of poetry I like. So when a friend recommended this book, I picked it up. Really cool poems. Simple, insightful, sometimes funny, sometimes moving. A few of the poems floated into the clouds a bit for me, but most were totally cool.
Rating:
Summary: this book changed my death
Review: I love his sense of meter, phrasing - his charcoal humour, and the section on oncology. i love the creative distinctions illuminated between oncology and ontology. in this way, berman's text is worshipped and glorified. It meant a lot to me and everyone here at the cancer ward. After I died, I rose again in fulfilment of the scriptures and found myself coming back time and again to ACTUAL AIR.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful writing, great mixture of sight and insight
Review: I read it often. I think it's superb.
Rating:
Summary: Potato Chip Poetry?
Review: Is it negative to call David Berman's work "Actual Air" an immensely entertaining work? Would he, would any poet, prefer his or her work to be called important or profound? Should a reader sit and read each stanza aloud, let it reverberate, and allow its meaning to fall from the air like mist? Or should one tear through all forty poems with reckless abandon, like I did with "Actual Air". Berman does have a healthy dollop of poetic pretensions, but it seems most modern poets can not avoid this problem. Perhaps it is due to the overwhelming self-centeredness the art form has grown into. Moments do shine, where, almost in a winking with the reader, Berman speaks plainly. In these moments the profundity emanates from the simplicity. Right away, in the second poem, 'Classic Water': and I remember how I would always refer to her boyfriends
as what's-his-face, which was wrong of me and I'd like
to apologize to those guys right now, wherever they are: No one deserves to be called what's-his-face. Simple and severe, humorous and sad. This mish-mash of emotional content written as humorous anecdotal lines is plentiful throughout the book. From 'Self Portrait at 28': We will travel to Mars
even as folks on Earth
are still ripping open potato chip
bags with their teeth. The above mixes the complex with the simple, the future and the past become one. In 'CORAL GABLES': "I refuse to be the middleman in a relationship
between you and the florist." A fittingly hilarious and sad remark. This book is recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The title of my review is: This book is good
Review: My review is that this is a good book. David Berman writes well and he seems really intelligent and insightful. I plan to re-read this book soon. David Berman is also a good singer and musician. Have you heard his band, "The Silver Jews"? I think that they are a great band. In conclusion, speaking of stars, and borrowing from the Silver Jews: "The stars don't don't shine upon us. We're in the way of their light". Thanks for reading my review.
Rating:
Summary: The title of my review is: This book is good
Review: My review is that this is a good book. David Berman writes well and he seems really intelligent and insightful. I plan to re-read this book soon. David Berman is also a good singer and musician. Have you heard his band, "The Silver Jews"? I think that they are a great band. In conclusion, speaking of stars, and borrowing from the Silver Jews: "The stars don't don't shine upon us. We're in the way of their light". Thanks for reading my review.
| 
