Daphne's Lot

Rating:
Summary: A Simple Complexity
Review: The language of this book astounded me. Never before have I seen a writer use simple, easily accessible language to carry the weight of such beauty and melancholy. The subject matter is one of a family epic, of war, of grace, of sorrow and of a joy for life hard to describe.

There is everything in this book to break your heart, but the thing is, the langauge and style will have you turning page after page as it does so.

Wonderful!

Rating:
Summary: A Fragile Beauty
Review: This is a rare gem of a book; beautiful in all the right ways, and yet risky in the way literature should be. The language in the first part of the book is lush, beautiful and constantly inventive. This contrasts nicely with the second part which is made up of short, sparse poems that manage to pull you comepletely into the moment. Everything in this book seems carefully balanced and it gives you the impression that is only the skill of the poet that keeps it from spinning off into darkness. I have never read a book about war that was able to make it so real, and human and present while not mentioning any real specifics. A book that tells you that no matter how dark the soul is, there is a fragile beauty that keeps us going and that that fragile beauty is the our humanity, our compassion.

I was not much of a poetry reader, but this book has turned me onto poetry and made me look at other poets. This book will break your heart, make you laugh and sing and be glad you are human. It is easily the best book of poetry I have read.