Iron Horse Literary Review

Spring 2005 Book Reviews

The Soup of Something Missing

Rick Bursky. Cohasset, CA: Bear Star Press, 2004. $12.00

    Most first books of poetry are like that date at the prom who doesn't actually know how to dance and keeps stepping on your toes: they're average , at best good, but regularly inconsistent, as the author struggles to flesh out her or his voice.  Then, rarely, a first collection comes along that shakes a leg: it takes risks that pay off, and feels and sounds like its author is living in, writing about, and trying to understand the world you and I inhabit.  Rick Bursky's The Soup of Something Missing, thankfully, knows how to groove. .

 

This I Believe:

 An A to Z of a Life

Carlos Fuentes.  New York: Random House, 2005. $26.95

     Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's most highly regarded novelists, has written a collection of essays that share his views on various topics.  When reading This I Believe, one notices the number of writers Fuentes cites.  While this practice gives his work a certain depth and richness, it might leave a reader feeling that he should be much better informed about things.  The reader often feels inspired to take notes, to go read all the writers Fuentes cites, and then to return to the essay. . .

 

The Other Shoe

Knute Skinner. Columbus, OH: Pavement Saw Press, 2005. $6.00

    It seems almost unfair to call what Skinner writes poems. Stories  would be a better fit.  Perhaps vignettes? The Other Shoe, winner of Pavement Saw Press' annual chapbook competition, is a fictional diary, concisely written with a pure sense of narrative.  Entries interconnect, share themes and ideas, run into and through each other, and, ultimately, describe the simplest of actions in the minutest detail, given even the smallest thought the grandest ambition.  Note the beginning of "Deborah": . . .

 

All of these books are available at Amazon.com

Click the image below of the book you want 

and you will be redirected to it's location.

 

_____________________________________

Home

Staff

Current

Readings

Archives

E-mail

 

Calendar

Mission

Reviews

Guidelines

Subscribe

  

Ads