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Pebble Swing
A much-anticipated debut collection from one of Canada’s most promising emerging poets
Pebble Swing earns its title from the image of stones skipping their way across a body of water, or, in the author’s case, syllables and traces of her mother tongue bouncing back at her from the water’s reflective surface. This collection is about language and family histories. It is the author’s attempt to piece together the resonant aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which stole the life of her paternal grandmother. As an immigrant whose grasp of Mandarin is fading, Wang explores absences in her caesuras and fragmentation―that which is unspoken, but endures.
The poems in this collection also trace the experiences of a young poet who left home at seventeen to pursue writing; the result is a series of city poetry infused with memory, the small joys of Vancouver’s everyday, environmental politics, grief and notions of home. While the poetics of response are abundant in the collection―with poems written to Natalie Lim and Ashley Hynd―the last section of the book, "Thirteen Ghazals and Anti-Ghazals after Phyllis Webb," forges a continued response to Phyllis Webb on Salt Spring Island, and innovates within the possibilities of the experimental ghazal form.
Pebble Swing earns its title from the image of stones skipping their way across a body of water, or, in the author’s case, syllables and traces of her mother tongue bouncing back at her from the water’s reflective surface. This collection is about language and family histories. It is the author’s attempt to piece together the resonant aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which stole the life of her paternal grandmother. As an immigrant whose grasp of Mandarin is fading, Wang explores absences in her caesuras and fragmentation―that which is unspoken, but endures.
The poems in this collection also trace the experiences of a young poet who left home at seventeen to pursue writing; the result is a series of city poetry infused with memory, the small joys of Vancouver’s everyday, environmental politics, grief and notions of home. While the poetics of response are abundant in the collection―with poems written to Natalie Lim and Ashley Hynd―the last section of the book, "Thirteen Ghazals and Anti-Ghazals after Phyllis Webb," forges a continued response to Phyllis Webb on Salt Spring Island, and innovates within the possibilities of the experimental ghazal form.
109 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 26, 2021
Onr og yjr
January 19, 2022
An amazing poetry collection. "Mother explains men" and "pebble swing" are my two favorites from the collection.
February 12, 2023
Isabella navigates her words through the process of her understanding her emotions. It’s authenticity and rawness of understanding her relationship of her identity and self is so vivid and transparent. It was such a joy to read and left me with a deeper sense of curiosity around my own sense of self in writing.
On a personal level, it was wonderful to read about the city of Vancouver which I believe Isabella intended to be a love letter to. The city is in her words and portrays such a deep sense of value of what home means to writers.
Such a lovely read.
On a personal level, it was wonderful to read about the city of Vancouver which I believe Isabella intended to be a love letter to. The city is in her words and portrays such a deep sense of value of what home means to writers.
Such a lovely read.
February 14, 2022
LOVED these poems!
Thank you to Nightwood Editions and Harbour Publishing for my gifted review copy!
Thank you to Nightwood Editions and Harbour Publishing for my gifted review copy!
October 17, 2021
My favourite poetry book ! Isabella’s poetry is breathtaking and eloquent ! Can’t recommend this book enough ! A must read !
October 16, 2021
I read her 2019 chapbook "On Forgetting A Language" so was looking forward to this collection. Nostalgia and memory shape the poetry and its attention to specific moments in specific places, more than I would have expected from that earlier book. The media around it stresses Wang's youth ("A much-anticipated debut collection from one of Canada’s most promising emerging poets"), but it appeals beyond that age. It's difficult to think of another poet so steeped in the homing pain of nostalgia in a debut. It's well worth reading.
August 1, 2024
foggy british columbia, liminal space, buoyancy in melancholy and spleen reminiscent of paul mccartney first 2 albums in the early seventies, chinese comfort food, and to borrow canadian singer bonnie dobson's words:
it's the time of the year when the sun turns cold,
the time when a woman needs a man to hold her,
and all I have is the rain
fallin down on me
it's the time of the year when the sun turns cold,
the time when a woman needs a man to hold her,
and all I have is the rain
fallin down on me
July 4, 2022
Could have used more footnotes.
November 15, 2022
literally sobbed at the end wtf is this so good for
March 14, 2022
"If I return to my birthplace, Jining, now
I will return as a foreigner
like the time I stepped onto this land 10 years ago
as a Chinese immigrant
and realized there was no place for my language in this new country."
•
🌿
Thoughts ~
A beautiful collection on place, identity, landscape, family, grief, and language.
I have been sitting on this review for a bit because I feel like nothing I put down will do it justice. I am in absolutely awe of Isabella Wang and Pebble Swing. An emotional collection, refreshingly written, Wang a Chinese Canadian Poet wonderfully explores her own past while trying to understand her families history and the loss of her mother tongue is so gorgeously written. I loved the pieces where she revisits her youth, out on her own, an ambitious young writer in Vancouver. They were filled with nostalgia and the everyday of city living. I just cant reccomended this one enough!
Thank You to @douglasmcintyre2013 for sending me this book!
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
I will return as a foreigner
like the time I stepped onto this land 10 years ago
as a Chinese immigrant
and realized there was no place for my language in this new country."
•
🌿
Thoughts ~
A beautiful collection on place, identity, landscape, family, grief, and language.
I have been sitting on this review for a bit because I feel like nothing I put down will do it justice. I am in absolutely awe of Isabella Wang and Pebble Swing. An emotional collection, refreshingly written, Wang a Chinese Canadian Poet wonderfully explores her own past while trying to understand her families history and the loss of her mother tongue is so gorgeously written. I loved the pieces where she revisits her youth, out on her own, an ambitious young writer in Vancouver. They were filled with nostalgia and the everyday of city living. I just cant reccomended this one enough!
Thank You to @douglasmcintyre2013 for sending me this book!
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
January 7, 2023
Poetry has always spoken to me. I don't always focus on the technical aspects but I love how emotional poetry can be.
At first, Wang's poetry collection was just okay. I liked the expressions of connections with her Chinese heritage and language. I liked the disconnect that can occur as an immigrant, not quite fitting in anywhere. I liked seeing references to the Vancouver I call home. However, the imagery and word usage didn't always work for me. For some reason, I just didn't feel deeply except for a few standouts like On Forgetting a Language, Pebble Swing, and Mother Explains Men.
But then, section IV, Hindsight, hit me. I loved the way these poems were structured and became absorbed in their vibrant descriptions and depth of emotion.
Overall, I would recommend this poetry collection! It gets better as it goes. In the acknowledgement, Wang says a handful of these poems were written in her last year of high school. In a way, you can see her growth.
At first, Wang's poetry collection was just okay. I liked the expressions of connections with her Chinese heritage and language. I liked the disconnect that can occur as an immigrant, not quite fitting in anywhere. I liked seeing references to the Vancouver I call home. However, the imagery and word usage didn't always work for me. For some reason, I just didn't feel deeply except for a few standouts like On Forgetting a Language, Pebble Swing, and Mother Explains Men.
But then, section IV, Hindsight, hit me. I loved the way these poems were structured and became absorbed in their vibrant descriptions and depth of emotion.
Overall, I would recommend this poetry collection! It gets better as it goes. In the acknowledgement, Wang says a handful of these poems were written in her last year of high school. In a way, you can see her growth.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews