User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Her first poetry collection in 25 years. To be truthful I wasn't aware she wrote poetry. She is a very prolific author, writes on various issues, stories, some I've loved, others not as much. She is though someone I admire because she also writes in many different styles, tones.
This collection is divided into four sections. Though many are not what people would recognize as straight out poems. Prose poetry, some read like short stories, snippets, stream of consciousness and some as the poems in the form most recognize. Some are expressly long and while I read them all, I did not like them all. She has as, I felt particularly cruel, although in your face honest, in her thoughts on Marlon Brando and even James Dean to a lesser extent.
This is one I liked, shorter and in recognizable form.
The Blessing
Barefoot daring
to walk
amid
the thrashing eye-glitter of
what remains
when the tide
retreats
we ask ourselves
why did it matter
so much
to have the last
word?
or any
word?
Here, please--take what
remains.
It is yours.
Rating: really liked it
Reading these so intently that I hadn't finished my coffee before it got cold. These poems - so versatile- showcase the many sides of JCO (as well as her mastery as poet, something that does not get the recognition that she deserves.)
She can be gritty & raw-- "Harvesting Skin" but also contradictory-an odd comparison of "Doctor Help Me" a womans' myriad pleas to have an abortion, juxtaposed with "Bloodline: Elegy" and the Chinese practice of throwing infant daughters into the river.
I will not- and cannot- analyze these magnificent poems, some dark, with their vivid imagery & presences. She isn't just dark. She has the ability, with her blunt awareness to state truths humanity needs to see.
These stood out for me:
Obedience: 1962
To Marlon Brando in Hell
Old America has Come Home to Die
American Sign LanguageAnd some that are light (these were my favorites)
Jubilate:an Homage in Catteral verses
Kite PoemAnd the most poignant, brought tears to my eyes
PalliativeTo quote from these poems is to rob them of being read whole for themselves.
Rating: really liked it
’...it is a slew of words in search of a container… a cooing of vowels like doves.’ This is a memorable collection of poems by Joyce Carol Oates that is separated into four sections:
THE COMING STORM THE FIRST ROOMAMERICAN MELANCHOLYAnd
THIS IS THE TIME FOR WHICH WE HAVE BEEN WAITINGThe first collection,
THE COMING STORM includes poems with themes based on our collective past history, but these aren’t all poems that rhyme or necessarily have a rhythm that most people associate with poetry. Of this section, the poem that impacted me the most was
OBEDIENCE: 1962The second collection,
THE FIRST ROOM starts out with a poem by the same name
THE FIRST ROOM which I really loved, followed by
THIS IS NOT A POEM which I also loved, and
THE MERCY, whose final lines read:
The stroke
that wipes out memory
is another word for mercy.Some of these narrative poems read more like a very short story, a message, some more like a commentary.
The third collection,
AMERICAN MELANCHOLY begins with
TO
MARLON BRANDO IN HELL, a strangely beautiful, if disturbing, take on the negative, destructive side of fame, as well as our willingness, or lack of willingness to offer forgiveness.
The fourth and final collection,
THIS IS THE TIME FOR WHICH WE WERE WAITING the only poem was heartbreakingly real and my personal favourite:
PALLIATIVESome of these poems cover some of history’s psychological experiments, man’s inhumanity to man, where others are on other disturbing topics, serving as warnings from the past, as well as a somewhat broad range of other topics. There’s a tangible sense of anger or indignation in some, and a sense of awe or love, or even reverence for the course of life, death and sorrow in others.
While this won’t appeal to everyone, and readers will love some of these poems more than others, I really appreciated all, and found many of these to be hauntingly beautiful.
Published: 09 Feb 2021
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Ecco
Rating: really liked it
This collection made me realise just how subjective reading poetry can be. In 2020, one of my reading goals was to read more poetry, especially modern writing. Strangely, this helped me focus during the worst of our lockdown, resulting in me achieving a record reading goal that year.
Since then, I have always had it on my radar to read more poetry. While this goal is still very much a work in progress for me, I have started to develop a sense of what I like and what doesn’t work for me. And I can confidently say that ‘American Melancholy’ didn’t do it for me.
Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific writer, rather hit-or-miss for me. I must say I was unaware that she was a poet as well. Having recently enjoyed ‘Dearly’ by Margaret Atwood, I was keen to read ‘American Melancholy’ as well.
Oates is a much different kind of poet, favouring long-form poems that almost read like blocks of text. The writing itself is quite straightforward and almost stripped down, which seems like a stylistic choice.
I tend to enjoy experimental poetry far more and can understand how Oates’s style is likely to appeal to those readers, for example, who wouldn’t normally read poets like Tommy Pico. As a rough comparison, I suppose, it is like classical music versus jazz.
Many of these poems just fell flat for me. I also felt that some of the messaging was rather heavy-handed, if not a tad strident. A particular case in point is the rather bizarre ‘To Marlon Brandon in Hell’, which begins:
Because you suffocated your beauty in fat.
Because you made of our adoration, mockery.
Because you were the predator male, without remorse.Yes, we get it. Just to make sure we do, Oates turns this diatribe into one of the longest poems in the collection. Another poem, ‘Jubilate: An Homage in Catterel Verse’, is just on the wrong side of twee to be entirely effective or convincing:
For I will consider my Cat Cherie
for she is the very apotheosis of Cat-Beauty
which is to say, nothing extraordinary
For in the Cat, beauty is ordinaryOne of the most interesting poems for me was a dark meditation on the alchemy of the artistic process, which is often used to turn suffering, death and horror into meaningful lived experience:
This is what I hate.
I hate that the bullies & thugs of the world
who wound, damage, devastate others
are then by the dark magic of art
enshrined in the art of those others
who have survived, & whose survival is commemorated
in artOverall, this is a sufficiently diverse collection in that one or two poems are bound to resonate with a wide range of readers. It is also a fascinating insight into the thought processes and artistic expression of a truly great writer.
Rating: really liked it
This is the fourth publication this year alone that I've reviewed of the work of Joyce Carol Oates, but the very first book of her poetry I've read. Each of the other books was different in style from the others (a short story collection, a 4-part novella compilation, an 800-page masterwork novel). And these poems could only have been written by her. Almost all have been previously published in journals and respected periodicals, and her choice of material reflects her intrigue of and rage against what she perceives as injustice and what damage can be wielded from one human being to another, sometimes under the cloak of "doing good" through scientific experiment. I was particularly wowed by her insight into the life and experience of Marlon Brando and his wasting of his gifts. Again, I wonder, does she ever sleep?
Rating: really liked it
I've been knocking it out of the park with the poetry I've picked up of late.
Oates is perhaps less known for her poetry, but she's also one of my favorite poets. I love her interpretive poems on art. In this collection, she did Martin Johnson Heade's The Coming Storm, 1859 and Edward Hopper's "Eleven A.M.," 1926 - for instance. In her collection, The Time Traveler, her poem on Hopper's Night Hawks has stayed with me.
Her strongest in this collection, though, are "Obedience, 1962" about the Milgram Experiment and the searing and beautiful, "To Marlon Brando in Hell."
This is another one that I'll want to read again someday soon, but will be kicking myself because I haven't and won't.
Rating: really liked it
Joyce Oates wrote American Melancholy and was born in June 16,1948 and published her first work in 1963 while producing many more books in the future up to 58 novels.
I did not find much interest in these poems, I find them lacking any meaning however I did enjoy Little Albert, 1920 poem and the following quotes;
“Children naturally fear loud noises.
Children naturally fear surprises.
Children naturally fear the unknown.
Children can be thought to fear the unknown.” P. 6
Rating: really liked it
Her first collection in twenty-five years, American Melancholy comprises poems that had been published in New Yorker, New Republic, Yale Review, and Kenyon Review among others.
Love, loss, and memory remain key themes, as in her 58 novels; however American Melancholy appears more personal in scope and meter.
In Palliative, an ode to her recently deceased husband, Charles Gross, she writes
... he'd been incensed - They took my soul from me
They took me to the crematorium, I saw the sign
Don't try to tell me I didn't see the sign
In This Is The Time For Which We Have Been Waiting, Oates includes William Carlos Williams' ("No man more loved our American speech") letter to his friend and editor, James Laughlin, as he was dwindling through a series of strokes; a great poet succumbs, words scattered yet optimistic "I hope I hope I make it."
The first snowfall brings chaos.
First the horizon disappears then
you disappear.
Rating: really liked it
I’ve read a bunch of Oates’ fiction which all pretty much comes under the same umbrella of exceptionally well written, relentlessly dark and disturbing and profoundly gloomy. Basically a literary equivalent of a bleak rainy winter day.
So it’s no surprise that her poetry is much the same. Same mod, same tone, different format. And, you know, less of a story. But good. Interesting. With a perfectly apt title. Worth a read.
Rating: really liked it
American Melancholy is an informative and driven compilation of experiences, thoughts, and insights of the author. Accurate and genuine, all the sensations that come with the little moments and the major events are brought to life through some of these poems.
Rating: really liked it
"It's the quiet
after the gunshots you remember." p.21
"Because the recklessness of adolescence is such elation, the heart is
filled tp bursting.
Because recklessness is the happy quotient of desperation" p.47
Rating: really liked it
An insightful and inspired collection of observations. True and honest, these poems bring to light all emotions that come with the small moments and the big events.
Rating: really liked it
I like to spoof on JCO, but I gotta admit this is a pretty great collection.
Rating: really liked it
This book was not at all on my radar until it popped up in the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees. While I will not rant here about how much I hate that they got rid of their write-in option and basically dictate you their selection now that were chosen after some fairly obscure algorithm while still calling them "Choice" awards, I will say that each year I quite enjoy scrolling through the lists to find something I hadn't heard of, especially in poetry because that is so underrepresented in the book world. That category has become very YA and Instagram poetry dominated so I was apparently so curious about one of the few actual poetry books that I checked it out from the library and read it right away with the potential intention of voting on it. Also, I quite like Joyce Carol Oates (at least on occasions, I have also read misses from her) but I didn't know she had published poetry.
Thing with "American Melancholy" was that I quite liked the themes and concepts of many of the poems but not the style. Oates' poetic way with words fell extremely flat for me, and you know that kind of matters in poetry. I found it weirdly repetitive and too simple in a rather underwhelming way, sometimes too choppy, sometimes too prose-like: it was not my cup of tea. As often with Oates there are some feminist touches but nothing too strong. She jumps around quite a bit with the topics which I found very interesting, the best part to me personally was that several of the experiments about loneliness mentioned in "Seek You" by Kristen Radtke (which I finished right before this) were also covered in here. I think the experiment poems were definitely my favorites, such a cool topic to cover in poetry. Abortion and American History find a spot but also more vague topics and then there was that strange cat poem... I also found the pieces connected to Germany and China a bit of an odd choice for something that has the unifying title of "American Melancholy".
I feel shockingly indifferent about this, putting together a review I can remember only very little about this and it has been only a few days. I actually waited a few days so I can sort my thoughts and say something worthwhile but I have hardly any thoughts on this. Which means was it worth my while? Likely not but I am not exactly disappointed that I read this either.
2.5*
Rating: really liked it
I received an advanced reader's uncorrected e-proof of this book. Thanks to Edelweiss (actually funny cause I am Austrian and those flowers actually grow around where I live in the mountains).
I have never read anything by this author before, but as someone with an English lit degree and a lot of passion for poetry and an overdose of personal melancholy on the best of days (and especially when foggy fall crawls the lands) this book seemed like a good fit. And it was. The cover is also really beautiful, which kinda helps (as shallow as it may sound).
These are the kinds of poems you have to read aloud, I think. Maybe once or twice in your head to feel the words you are about to form, but ultimately you have to breath them into existence. And I loved that. There are different sections and different themes (no surprises there, it's pretty standard for poetry collections and the like). I really feel like this could be beautifully discussed in a literature cycle or book club on poetry night.
Most of the poems read more like mini stories. More so than other poetry does. I think it's because the poems actually tell you a story, not hint at one, not giving you a glimpse of something. They actually tell you a story. Whether it be Little Albert or someone or something else. Some other poems felt like streams of consciousness (of a more or less troubled mind). It was a weird mix, but it worked in a way.
To be fair, I was a bit surprised to read about Adolf Eichmann (Nazi) and the Holocaust in the poems. Overall, I was not quite sure where the specific American melancholy part of it all was. There was one specific chapter (I think it was the third one) titled American Melancholy. There was talk of the American film industry and specific places. I especially loved the poem "Old America has come to die". There it made sense. But overall?
