Plot

by Claudia Rankine

'Exquisite . . . readers will find themselves transformed by it' Claire Lynch'Stunning . . . dazzlingly laser-like and movingly original' Lara Feigel'I nventive and searching' Calvin Bedient'I am awestruck . . . a masterpiece' Mary GordonThe stunningly original exploration of pregnancy and childbirth by the acclaimed author of CitizenIn this, the landmark achievement that crowned the first phase of her writing career, Claudia Rankine invites us into the lives of Liv and her husband Erland, as they find themselves propelled into the classic boy loves girl, girl gets pregnant. The couple's journey is charted through dreams, conversations and reflections, in a text like no other, deftly moulding language and crossing genres to arrive at new baby Ersatz.Plot is an inventive and engrossing meditation on pregnancy and the changes it the potential bodily cost, the loss of self, the sense of impending stasis. Each fear compounds Liv's reluctance to bring new life into a bewildering world. A profoundly daring collection, it explodes the emotive capabilities of language and form to achieve an unparalleled understanding of creation and existence.

Genres: Poetry, Feminism, Read For School

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Claudia Rankine is an American poet and playwright born in 1963 and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and New York City.

Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including "Citizen: An American Lyric" and "Don’t Let Me Be Lonely"; two plays including "The White Card," which premiered in February 2018 (ArtsEmerson and American Repertory Theater) and will be published with Graywolf Press in 2019, and "Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue"; as well as numerous video collaborations. She is also the editor of several anthologies including "The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind." In 2016, she cofounded The Racial Imaginary Institute. Among her numerous awards and honors, Rankine is the recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry and the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artists and the National Endowment of the Arts. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Yale University as the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
(source: Arizona State University)

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and intricate, Claudia Rankine’s long poem reworks one of fiction’s most basic, recurring plots: a man and a woman meet, marry and then have a child. Each step often painted as inevitable plot progression. Rankine is interested here in exploring the confusions and contradictions often erased in the telling of such stories, naming her couple Liv and Erland after the actors in Ingmar Bergman’s classic Scenes from a Marriage which Bergman partly visualised as airing women’s suppressed feelings and rage. Rankine focuses on Liv, her “emotional landscape” and the conflicting thoughts and sensations stirred by pregnancy, and the possibility it holds of a child she refers to as Ersatz.

For Erland it seems fatherhood is a desirable state, although its practicalities seem daunting. Liv isn’t so sure, for her the presence of something growing within her body manifests as an “estranged interlacing” challenging her fragile sense of self both physically and mentally, forcing an uncomfortable awareness of the leaky boundaries between self and other. This anxiety is intensified by the fact that she’s an artist and she muses on the possible consequences of motherhood for her future. She’s haunted too by the figure of the childless Virginia Woolf, whose drowned body, submerged in the River Ouse becomes an obsession, an image she paints over and over again. She’s equally drawn to the character of the painter Lily Briscoe in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse both somehow speak to her fears and desires, providing an outlet for the expression of ambiguities and uncertainties. Something that there seems to be no space for in the wider world.

Dense, demanding and striking, this is frequently more abstract than the later pieces of hers I’ve encountered. Rankine’s inventive, challenging poem plays with form: from the shape and the layout of the words on the page to the ways in which she incorporates conversations, internal monologue and even dream states. Rankine’s interested too in associations between words, the ways in which seemingly unrelated terms may yet carry “traces” of each other because of their shared sounds or associations – something apparently drawn from Caribbean writing traditions - and I found sections of this worked best read aloud. First published in 2001, it’s a deeply reflective, complex exploration of widespread cultural assumptions about the maternal, gender, creativity and motherhood.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Classics for an ARC

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 rounded up

Having been really impressed by Claudia Rankine's previous books - Citizen: An American Lyric and Just Us: An American Conversation - I was excited to try this book, an earlier work of poetry. There's no doubt that Rankine is an excellent writer, but I'm sorry to say I struggled with this, finding it too abstract for my own personal taste.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m afraid this went way over my head. I was impressed by the language and style but this was not for me.
Thank you Penguin and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Marc Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dsc9...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit Claudia Rankine can write. I love her wordplay so much. This is the story of a couple, Liv and Erland, though it’s primarily the story of Liv - who finds out she is pregnant and isn’t sure she wants to be. Rankine’s description of the baby growing in Liv’s belly are visceral and stunning. The ending as well. The middle sections require a lot of digestion. I spend a lot of time while reading poetry thinking about something I once heard Traci K Smith say, how she asks “what does this bring up for you?” Rather than “what does it mean?” I couldn’t tell you quite what Claudia Rankine “means,” especially in the sections where Liv is painting, but this brings up the complexities of womanhood, motherhood. I’ve always wanted to be a mother and in recent years coming to terms with what it might mean for me to become a mom without carrying the baby physically myself through pregnancy. I’ve never quite read pregnancy written the way the Rankine has, and it’s absolutely outstanding.

[Ben Dutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claudia Rankine's Plot was first published in 2001 and is being re-issued by Penguin. It is a poetry collection concerning pregnancy and motherhood. Erland and Liv are at the centre of the piece, and it is Liv's doubts, fears and passions which drive the narrative. Explained as such, Rankine's book sounds rather simple, but it is Rankine's style which truly elevates the work to greater heights. Her style is truly unique, and you either get on board and enjoy the ride, or she will leave you at the wayside.

This is a book which has taken a few days to settle in my thoughts before I felt able to review it. I think it a very fine, beautiful piece of work. It will not be to everyone's taste, but it has certainly driven me to seek out more of her work.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Arya · Rating 4 out of 5]

about to lose my MIND

sections 4 and 6 are the best (beached debris ?!?)

so inspiring, very dense, will be re-reading for years and years

[Alexander Astruc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best but still enjoyable

[Paula Koneazny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Rankine reminds me not to give oneself up easily. Her writing does not give itself up easily. Plot is ostensibly the narrative of a pregnancy and a birth; a couple, Liv and Erland await their son-to-be, whom they have named Ersatz (the substitute?). Liv’s is a pregnancy experienced from the inside, physically, emotionally, intellectually. Experienced also in the dialog between Liv and Erland, Ersatz’s parents to be. Unspoken taboos are spoken here. Doubts. Fears. Anticipations. “the mothering more forged than known.” The singular and the plural being. Who am I? Who is he? Am I the parent or am I the child, the mother, the wife, the lover? Liv is a painter obsessed with the death of Virginia Woolf, Woolf’s body as a sodden log, at first hidden, submerged, then beached, brought to the surface. As if the river gives birth to a death. In Liv’s more morbid thoughts, a metaphor for her pregnancy, “whose womb rhymes with plot,” as in the story, as in burial plot, as in conspire. What Liv says of the painting might apply to Rankine’s poems as well: “The subject must be erased though the painting is saturated by what was felt, what was seen by the erased face.” But then, there is what comes afterward, part of the plot or after the plot, the joy.

[Kristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previously to reading 'Plot' I've read Rankine's work and how she has observed the world and society through a critical lens, particularly in relation to prejudice, race and discrimination. Thus, 'Plot' felt like quite a departure from what I'm used to. Rankine's writing is far more experimental here as the fragmentary nature of 'Plot' relates the story of a couple having a baby.

The refreshing aspect of 'Plot' is the fact it ends with the baby's birth rather than beginning with it; it is rare to find a book from the mother's perspective which focuses purely on the inner turmoil that comes with pregnancy. Rankine's writing was raw and honest in this regard and adds a much needed voice to poetry focusing on motherhood and pregnancy.

This said, at times the pieces felt too fragmentary to relate to or find meaning within. To me, it felt like so much of this book was still in Rankine's head, not enough had been worked through to work on the page for a variety of readers. Pieces felt as if they required a commentary to truly unlock the experiences they hold. And so, while 'Plot' is an interesting read, it lacks the depth to make it memorable.

[Herbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

After several instances of picking this up and not being able to get into it, I finally really got into it, and it was great. The opening was probably a stronger siren call because I've now had much (much) more personal proximity to pregnancy and birth.

I read this mostly all in one sitting, which I recommend. For me, this was a more difficult read than Citizen or Don't Let Me Be Lonely.

I was particularly elated to get to the part about Lily Briscoe (a character in To The Lighthouse). Having the acts of artistic creation and human creation (pregnancy, labor) placed side by side was pretty thrilling to me. The depictions of the bodily sensations of pregnancy, the experiencing of them - are also so wonderful here.

I want to write more but I can't right now.

[Greg Bem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting Rankine's experimentation to be as intense here, but loved it nonetheless. The exploration of understanding the bodies behind a pregnancy is unique--haven't read anything like it, and am bookmarking it for the future.

Second review:
I have just finished Rankine's powerful Plot for a second time in the same year. This time I encountered so much more. The river. The Life, cap on the L, where there is potentiality. And the distance as generative and optimistic no matter how much pain. This work is fantastic and enduring, endearing, and dares through its multitudes.

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years back, I was blown away by Rankine's collection, Don't Let Me Be Lonely. That book has lived in my head ever since I read it, and in some ways, it redefined how I thought about contemporary poetry collections. So, knowing that, you can imagine and take into account how high my hopes were for Plot...which didn't really live up to that other reading experience.

Another tightly themed and progressive collection, Plot centered on a journeyed discussion of pregnancy, childbirth, related individual choice/bodily autonomy, and artistic identity. Already, these isn't a theme that I'm able to connect to as much as I could connect with Don't Let Me Be Lonely, and it's possible I just wasn't the right reader for this book. Admittedly, I picked up the collection only because of the poet's name, not even bothering to read the blurb (if I had, I perhaps would have picked up one of her other collections). Rankine's poetics are as powerful and gorgeous as ever, but I found it more difficult to connect to this book than Don't Let Me Be Lonely. I suspect that's due to me as a reader vs. Rankine's work here, which is undeniably impressive.

In the end, this may well end up being a book I come back to or recommend, but I'm more anxious to explore more of her other work.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poetry collection that leaves you slightly unsettled, deep in thought and enchanted by the array of vocabulary, Plot certainly doesn't leave you with a literary hole to fill.

A use of language that's displayed throughout with such force, this book is certainly a stunning way to share the fear, anxiety and emotional toll of having a baby - the inside of Liv's brain is put to paper with incredible feeling and certainly feels like something that the author needed to write for herself.

Different styles and techniques allow for the poetry to really grab you, I particularly found the 'boxed' style poems really interesting and unique, however this whole collection is certainly delivering a variety of poetic styles that make for an intriguing read.

However I do think this collection just wasn't for me, I think sometimes it felt confusing and though I appreciate the language and think I have a wide vocabulary, I've never felt so at sea with trying to figure out the meaning sometimes of certain words and fully understand what the intent of the author was.

overall a really thoughtful, emotional collection of poetry.

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC for review).

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Were we ever to arrive at knowing the other as the same pulsing compassion would break the most orthodox heart.” In Claudia Rankine’s third collection Plot, first published in 2001 and thus preceding her more famous works Don’t Let Me Be Lonely and Citizen: An American Lyric, Rankine’s attention is fixed squarely on the pregnant female body, on its boundaries and boundlessnesses, what is fixed and what is porous. Written in nine stylistically varied parts, amounting to three distinct trimesters of verse, Rankine tells a single story of expectant Liv, her husband Erland, full of expectation, and their unborn child. She continually breaks, builds, and rebreaks the mould diverging in form and genre, weaving “conversations, dreams, memories, and meditations” through “verse, prose, and dialogue”, arguably prototypical of the style she goes on to perfect in Don’t Let Me Be Lonely and Citizen. Above all this collection asks about the point of childbearing and family-starting, of being just “three in billions”; the sublime, spiritual wonder of the ‘Afterword’, from a newborn perspective, is not an answer but a declaration, “borne to a billion chances”, but glorious just because it is.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

read for school.
any book that can do what Claudia Rankine did deserves 5 stars.
captures intense fear and intense desire surrounding pregnancy and motherhood. about wanting a baby but also not wanting a baby because of a multitude of factors that affect mothers. about loving and hating the changing body. about time for a mother vs time for the partner who is not carrying the baby. about the judgement mothers receive, loss of identity, and guilt. Rankine really is making space for every possible emotion someone could have surrounding this topic. stunning, hauntingly beautiful, and real. made me anxious.
this book brought up a lot of intense emotions for me because of how I feel about having children and it was really eyeopening in many ways.
for the most part i like the different structures that Rankine plays with but there were a couple that I was not a fan of based on personal preference for poetry.
this was also very confusing most of the time which was purposeful but frustrating, too.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Shellfish. No… approach it. Selfish. Oui.”

Bro the wordplay!!!💀💀
That’s an actual line from the book!!
Please spare me.
Just glancing at the pages (all the “proximity” ones are subtitles that divide up the book like chapters), here’s some ridiculousness:

“so like, so liked”

“coherence in consequence”

“mother coded for other”

“live its evil”

“proximity of clock to lock”

“proximity of inner to In Her”

“proximity of stuck to tuck”

“proximity of weary to wary”

“Contemplating the proximity of prison to person”

“missing, so missed”

“proximity of accrue to rue”

“Proximity of posed to exposed”

“The Ouch in Touch”

[Sarah]

This is a short book about pregnancy & motherhood in a way I haven't seen it written about before. Liv and Erland are expecting a baby and Liv is reluctant about it. The changes to her body, to their life and lifestyle is hashed out across the pages.

I am historically not great at reviewing poetry and I doubt that my luck is going to change now! I have been planning to read Claudia Rankine's work and this has encouraged me to pick up more of her books.

Read via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

“By landscape we also mean memory—the swept under. covered over. skin of history. surfacing blue violence of true. echoing from there. to here. […]

I am all of me feeling like I am in constant paraphrase. loosely. without the fence of time. in time losing to form absorbed. swift caught”.

Such stunning use of language—such beautiful choices, over and over again, stripping words bare to pure emotion. What an incredible way to explore a couple’s separate yet deeply connected experiences of a pregnancy. Deeply affective; a re-read is a must.

[Eric Mueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book where I've had to read the opening section five times. Rankine probably does more with syntax, word order, internal rhyming, and structure in the first few pages than many do in a while book. This book is as masterful as it is powerful. As the collection, which is in sections but could stand alone as its own long poem, follows a character physically and cerebral through explorations of love and family planning.

[tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

thought-provoking poetry on motherhood and identity during pregnancy- and the anxiety that naturally occurs when coming to terms with impending parenthood. some beautiful prose and sentiments, and also some difficult and convoluted segments- i found this a visceral and very human exploration of pregnancy and the reckoning with one’s new identity as a mother-first, person-second- and the taboo that exists that prevents women from discussing their fears about becoming mothers

[Alfie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excruciating at times but as Liv comes to terms with it through her artistic expression, so too did I through Rankine’s.

Can’t believe the intertextuality meeting with sensuality and identity in this! And the humour!

[Anna Sinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 maybe? Hard to rate. I saw a review that said it’s the sort of book you “read with your body as much as your mind” and I definitely felt that in places but other parts were just too convoluted and kinda went over my head.

[Stephanie Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully written but it's about pregnancy and how the different characters dealt with it and it's different stories written in poetry form. Not my cup of tea.

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are fantastic — best poetic representation of pregnancy I've encountered.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 really really loved this

[Matt Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a mesmerizing whirl of motherhood, parenthood, family, love, loss, and artistic expression of unspeakable truths.

[Dylan Marcus · Rating 2 out of 5]

i confess - i lost the plot on this one.

[Tony S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit at first I was not sure about this and the style of writing but once you get used to it it really is an excellent read and has a nice style

[Aaron Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely read poetry but when I do, I make sure it's Claudia Rankine. Sublime.