Viper Rum

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I enjoyed "The Devil's Tour" (Karr's other in-print book of poetry) so much, and bought "Viper Rum" as soon as I found it. I was not disappointed. Reflecting on loss in various forms, Karr says what she means, and says it beautifully.

No 'decoration' here - the poems prove that the poet's ideas presented in the essay "Against Decoration" (at the back of this book) work very well.

The idea of poetry is a wonderful thing. At some point in childhood I was taught that poetry consists of beautiful words which cut to the core of the matter and which strongly, easily move the reader's emotions in few words. This idea really stuck with me, but I have never found a poet who so completely fulfilled it (few even came close, really) until I read Mary Karr.

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I enjoyed "The Devil's Tour" (Karr's other in-print book of poetry) so much, and bought "Viper Rum" as soon as I found it. I was not disappointed. Reflecting on loss in various forms, Karr says what she means, and says it beautifully.

No 'decoration' here - the poems prove that the poet's ideas presented in the essay "Against Decoration" (at the back of this book) work very well.

The idea of poetry is a wonderful thing. At some point in childhood I was taught that poetry consists of beautiful words which cut to the core of the matter and which strongly, easily move the reader's emotions in few words. This idea really stuck with me, but I have never found a poet who so completely fulfilled it (few even came close, really) until I read Mary Karr.

Rating:
Summary: Viper Rum
Review: In "Against Decoration," the Afterword to "Viper Rum," Mary Karr defines the two sins of contemporary poetry: 1)absence of emotion and 2)lack of clarity. One can accuse Karr of neither. Like her prose, Karr's poems are direct and self-depracating, yet brimming with an emotion rendered with crystalline prose and multi-faceted images. Karr is an immensely talented and very important literary voice. I encourage anyone interested in poetry to pick up "Viper Rum".

Rating:
Summary: Viper Rum
Review: In "Against Decoration," the Afterword to "Viper Rum," Mary Karr defines the two sins of contemporary poetry: 1)absence of emotion and 2)lack of clarity. One can accuse Karr of neither. Like her prose, Karr's poems are direct and self-depracating, yet brimming with an emotion rendered with crystalline prose and multi-faceted images. Karr is an immensely talented and very important literary voice. I encourage anyone interested in poetry to pick up "Viper Rum".

Rating:
Summary: Well worth a look
Review: Mary Karr's work is a pleasant change from most of the newer poetry. It is a refreshingly emotional look at death and suicide. These themes weigh heavily in the first portion of the book yet are not overpowering, and actually serve to demonstrate well the mindset of a person with suicidal thoughts. In addition, she includes an intriguing insight into religious beliefs, subtly pointing out some of the hypocrycies therein. The second half of the work, a treatise on her neliefs of the role of poetry is also very valuable. She explains the need for emotional content in poetry and the necessity of clear presentation of these ideas. As a college student, I give the work high praise in that I will not sell the book at the end of the semester. Overall, it is well worth a glance.