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A Kelly Cherry Reader
In Fred Chappell's introduction to The Kelly Cherry Reader, he writes, "Cherry is a flambeau example of the extremely conscious artist, a writer who meditates ceaselessly upon the problems and possibilities of the poem, the novel, the short story and the essay. She ponders what she has done and how she has done it; she thinks about the approaches and techniques she has employed, and she labors to extend and expand them. This kind of effort is not common to all writers, many of whom will write this year pretty much the same novel they wrote year before last, the same poem they wrote twenty years ago."
Cherry has long been a writer whose work has remained vital and, due to her diligence, fresh. Here, in the Reader, she collects a body of work, much of it no longer in print, and permits us to remap and re-explore where her writing has come from, where it has gone, and where it is bound yet to go; it reacquaints long-time fans and invites new readers to discover the importance of her work.
Cherry has long been a writer whose work has remained vital and, due to her diligence, fresh. Here, in the Reader, she collects a body of work, much of it no longer in print, and permits us to remap and re-explore where her writing has come from, where it has gone, and where it is bound yet to go; it reacquaints long-time fans and invites new readers to discover the importance of her work.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2015
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August 19, 2015
This collection is a wonderful introduction to Kelly Cherry, a wonderful overview of Kelly Cherry...it's just pure Kelly Cherry.
My favorite section in the book, which is divided into short stories, novel excerpts, essays, and poetry, is the short stories. While Cherry's work always swells with intelligence and acute observation, she also has a very bawdy sense of humor that will surprise and make you laugh out loud.
The novel excerpts served as teasers, if you haven't read the novels already. If you have, they create a wonderful trip down your library's memory lane. The essays are astute and strong, with my favorite being, "I Was A Teenage Beatnik".
The only criticism I have comes from the poetry, and with one poem in particular. The book ends with one very long poem, "Questions And Answers", and I admit, I had to keep stopping and returning to the beginning to figure out exactly what it was I was reading. I feel the poem might have done better as an essay.
But that wasn't enough to make me knock a star out of my 5-star rating. It's a fabulous read.
My favorite section in the book, which is divided into short stories, novel excerpts, essays, and poetry, is the short stories. While Cherry's work always swells with intelligence and acute observation, she also has a very bawdy sense of humor that will surprise and make you laugh out loud.
The novel excerpts served as teasers, if you haven't read the novels already. If you have, they create a wonderful trip down your library's memory lane. The essays are astute and strong, with my favorite being, "I Was A Teenage Beatnik".
The only criticism I have comes from the poetry, and with one poem in particular. The book ends with one very long poem, "Questions And Answers", and I admit, I had to keep stopping and returning to the beginning to figure out exactly what it was I was reading. I feel the poem might have done better as an essay.
But that wasn't enough to make me knock a star out of my 5-star rating. It's a fabulous read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review