Zg itibaren Sukun, Malang City, East Java, Endonezya
Heartbreaking and wonderful story. Some of the plot devices were a lil out there...but in the end, this was a story about friendship and regrets and doing the right thing, even if that means coming face to face with your worst enemy.
Orr is very often quite funny, and is able to sketch out a map of modern American poetry in a somewhat haphazard way. The pretensions of modern poets and critics and readers are lightly mocked, and his realistic and pragmatic sensibility about the enjoyment of poetry is helpful. It's an appetizer, a introduction that cultivates an interested reader, without casting modern poetry into a new golden calf. The most pleasant realization I had while reading this book is that, yes, those blurbs on the jackets of new volumes of poetry are, yes, probably, at least partly, bullshit. The rite of initiation is a working interest, and you can read what you like, and change what you like, and hopefully avoid being scared into parroting or just scared away by the adulatory excess poets gild each other with.
This story reminded me of almost any family. Typical dynamics of family life and stages of life. This author makes me smile.