Vivian Shipley

This book was a bit too personal to the poet for me. The poems were, overall, related to her relationship with her father, and extremely detailed. There were quite a few points when I felt imagery or comparisons or thoughts were included solely for the author's personal benefit, but which could not be reconciled or understood in the context of the poem if you were an outside reader. As a whole, while there were some nice images and some nice moments, none of these poems are works that I'd consider marking to come back to or noting for myself or for class. Simply, they are there, I read them, and I found them extremely forgettable. I wouldn't particularly recommend this book of poetry to anyone, unless perhaps they're looking for examples of contemporary autobiographical poetry. For me, this collection just didn't work.… (més)