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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

August 19, 2010 by

Stephenie Meyer‘s The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a short novella that takes a glimpse at the other side of vampirism . . . the darker side.  Written as a companion to the Eclipse novel and the release of the movie, readers will experience what it truly is to be a newborn vampire, to crave the blood, and to think of nothing else.

“She opened her mouth to scream, but my teeth crushed her windpipe before a sound could come out.  There was just the gurgle of air and blood in her lungs, and the low moans I could not control.”  (Page 10)

Bree Tanner is a young teen turned vampire thrust into a vicious world of vampire gangs, who hides behind Fred, a young vampire with the power to repel others.  She’s timid and fearful of the new world she’s in, but she cannot control her thirst any more than her other counterparts.  Bree meets an older vampire teen, Diego who takes her under his wing and allows her to find comfort with her new life.

Overall, the novella is a quick read and helps shed light on the vampire world not seen in the Twilight series, but it lacked the gruesome and detailed slashing that one would expect from newborn vampires.  Much of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner focuses on teen angst about fitting in and finding one’s way in the world, and naturally about a budding love.  Meyer is a gifted storyteller, but her timidity with regard to the vicious nature of vampires will leave many fans feeling flat.

***I borrowed my copy of Meyer’s novella from the local library.  I’d also like to thank Not Enough Books for the recommendation.***

This is my 4th book for the 2010 Vampire Series Challenge.

Filed Under: 2010 Vampire Series Challenge, borrowed copy, Hachette Books, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

Because All Is Not Lost by Sweta Srivastava Vikram

August 13, 2010 by

Sweta Srivastava Vikram‘s Because All Is Not Lost is a new chapbook of poems about grief and recovery.  While recovering from grief is never the same for everyone, these poems speak to the void that death can leave.

“One day she will stop/digging up maggots of loss/breeding in her memory.//” (From Convalescence, page 18)

Vikram uses simple imagery and encapsulated stories to illustrate grief and the possible reactions to loss.  In the introduction, the poets explains her inspiration for the collection, the deaths of her grandfather and her mother’s sister.  The collection is sad and weighs heavily on the reader, and readers should consider taking each poem in separately to absorb their meaning.  However, there are rays of hope within the poems.

From A permanent address, “Flood of affection is what I get from her -/jasmine flowers mixed with olive and a soft kiss// of assurance.  She whispers/that it was a recurring nightmare./That I was safe” (page 20)

Because All Is Not Lost is a chapbook that will affect readers like no other poetry collection. Readers will be absorbed by the grief and the glimmers of light as the narrators deal with emptiness and blame.

***Thanks to the poet Sweta Srivastava Vikram for sending me a copy for review***

Now for the global giveaway; 2 copies up for grabs:

1.  Leave a comment about a moment of loss you’ve felt and how you dealt with it.

2.  Blog, Facebook, or Tweet this giveaway and leave a link here.

Deadline Aug. 27, 2010, at 11:59 PM EST

This is my 10th book for the Clover Bee & Reverie Poetry Challenge.

This is my 41st book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2010 Clover Bee and Reverie Poetry Challenge, giveaway, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

To Conquer Mr. Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

August 12, 2010 by

To Conquer Mr. Darcy by Abigail Reynolds is another of the author’s variation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice novel.  In this rendition, Reynolds begins with the premise that Mr. Darcy will not give up after Miss Bennet’s refusal of his marriage proposal and continues to pursue her relentlessly.  However, it does take some convincing by his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Reynolds stays true to Austen’s characters for the most part, and the inner struggle facing Elizabeth is well depicted as she begins to change her mind about Mr. Darcy and his merits as a man and suitor.  Using more modern language and sensibilities, Reynolds updates the classic and will appeal to most modern readers.  However, readers should be warned that there are a number of intimate moments between the couple that are very detailed, which could weigh on certain sensibilities.

Reynolds has successfully created an alternate scenario to Austen’s novel, with the expected cast of characters — the Gardiners, Jane Bennet, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Wickham, and Georgiana.  What readers will enjoy most about this Elizabeth is that she does not cower from her responsibilities as a potential Mistress of Pemberley as she has done in other re-imaginings.  With all the convincing Darcy must do to win Lizzy, readers may think a more apt title for this novel would be To Conquer Miss Bennet.  Overall, To Conquer Mr. Darcy is a delightful look at how things could have been different between Lizzy and Darcy and good summer read.

**Thanks to Sourcebooks for sending me a review copy of To Conquer Mr. Darcy by Abigail Reynolds for review.

This is my 5th book for the Jane Austen Challenge 2010.

This is my 1st book for the Everything Austen II Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, everything austen challenge, fiction, Jane Austen Challenge 2010, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, reviews, sourcebooks Tagged With: ,

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart

August 10, 2010 by

Beth Kephart‘s Dangerous Neighbors, which hits stores on August 24, is set in 1876 in Philadelphia on the verge of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the United States as two sisters, twins, struggle with changes in their relationship and find the ability to fly on their own.

Katherine and Anna may be twins, but they are very different with Anna considered the beauty and adventurous one and Katherine as the dependable protector.  As adolescence hits and Anna falls in love with the baker’s son, Bennett, the relationship between the girls changes, forcing Katherine to make tough choices and keep secrets.  Anna is like the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia in that she winds her way through a society on the cusp of change and modernity.  She takes the plunge even though her love for the Bennett would be frowned upon by her family given his status in the city compared to that of her father, a banker.

“Nothing in this world is safe.  Clouds form.  Trees split.  Horses rear.  Ice breaks.  Fire rages.  Maybe the bird in that girl’s cage is better off, but then again, Katherine thinks, the cage could crack, the prison could itself perish, along with its prisoner.”  (Page 32 of ARC)

Dangerous Neighbors is told from Katherine’s point of view, which limits what the reader sees and hears from Anna’s perspective, but in this way, readers know the story is Katherine’s and not Anna’s.  Katherine must protect her wayward sister, or at least that’s the pressure she feels from her parents, particularly her father.  Their mother barely plays a role in their lives as she focuses all of her energy on the Centennial celebration and women’s rights.

While references are made to dangerous neighbors by her father and others in the book, readers will find that the true dangers lie in the decisions one makes about his or her own life and how those decisions can sometimes lead to unexpected tragedy.  Dangerous Neighbors is a young adult novel dealing with very adult themes of family, growing up, and moving past grief. Kephart’s attention to historical and descriptive detail will transport readers back in time, while tugging them along emotionally and with some suspense as Katherine unravels her tragic story.  Another delightful novel from Kephart, though readers may wish to see more of the mysterious William, who rescues Katherine from herself.

***I received my signed ARC of Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart from Book Expo America.***

Filed Under: ARC, Read in 2010, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

Undercover by Beth Kephart

August 5, 2010 by

Elisa, a adolescent Cyrano de Bergerac, uses her love of words, nature and skating to navigate not only school and peer pressure, but also her family’s problems.  As a spy in Undercover by Beth Kephart, Elisa creates lines of verse to help her fellow male students make their girlfriends and soon-to-be girlfriends swoon.  She does so with stealth and folded scraps of paper without much thought, until Theo comes along.

“Dad likes to say, about both of us, that we’re undercover operatives who see the world better than the world sees us, and this, I swear, has its benefits.”  (page 8 )

Elisa takes much of her dad’s advice to heart, and much of that is probably because he’s away on business a lot of the time.  She spends quite a lot of time observing and creating verse until in Honors English she comes upon the tragedy of Cyrano, which effectively turns her philosophy upside down.  Beyond spending her days writing poems, she’s discovered a pond to provide her inspiration.  When it freezes over, she decides to skate . . . something she has never done before.

Undercover is a story about a girl who digs deep for courage, a courage she needs to write, to deal with fellow classmates, and to hold her family together.  Readers will connect with Elisa as they would reconnect with themselves, particularly if they were the student with few friends, felt that they were on the outside in many situations, or who wrote in their dark room at night alone.  Elisa is that girl in all of us.  She’s the young woman unsure of herself, her surroundings, and her abilities, but who is pushed beyond her self-imposed limits to reach higher, strive for more and dream big.  She does not want to be Cyrano.

Undercover will resonate with readers, push them to feel lonely when Elisa is alone, cheer up when she triumphs, and cry with happiness when all is right with the world.  The only drawback is that readers will not want to leave; they’ll want to know what happens with Theo, her rivals, and her family.  Kephart deftly uses language to paint each scene and elicit emotion, connecting the reader to Elisa through her casual narrative.  In many ways, readers will love this as much or more than Kephart’s Nothing But Ghosts.

I borrowed my copy of Undercover by Beth Kephart from the public library.

***Also, I forgot to mention that I took this book out upon Jill at Rhapsody in Books‘ recommendation.***

Filed Under: borrowed copy, Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, reviews, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

August 2, 2010 by

Margaret Dilloway‘s How to Be an American Housewife is reminiscent of Amy Tan and Lisa See’s fiction in that the main characters are of Asian descent and struggle with cultural differences and generational gaps that hamper their ability to relate with one another smoothly.

“After the first hour watching scratchy TV in the blood lab, I wished I had a book with me.  Charlie and I weren’t big readers.  Books were too expensive and library books were full of germs from all the people who had checked them out.”  (page 123 of ARC)

Shoko is a Japanese woman who marries an American soldier, Charlie, shortly after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  She tells her story of how she moved from a happy childhood to a tumultuous adolescence at a time when her nation was occupied by a foreign invader and her family had lost its position in the caste society.  She’s an independent woman still beholden to Japanese traditions, though she takes time out to find true love.

“I understood then that my skills in school or in sports would not make my life come about in the way I wished.  I took my bows at that recital, vowing I would learn what I needed and make the best marriage possible.”  (page 6 of ARC)

Her trip down memory lane, unfortunately, is a bit stilted with little emotion, which could make it harder for readers to connect with Shoko.  However, once readers are engaged with Shoko’s struggles as an American housewife as she adapts to different cultural norms and strives to raise her children properly.  Mike and Suiko, her children, are as different as night and day, with Mike floating through life and Suiko taking her responsibilities to heart even to the detriment of her own dreams.  Shoko’s relationship with her children is strained, but she must soon learn to rely on them when she tries to reunite with her estranged brother, Taro.

Dilloway’s novel is captivating as Shoko continues to tell her story and when her daughter, Sue takes over the narration when she heads to Japan to learn about her family’s past and reconcile her family after many decades of silence.  As a debut, it is solid in drawing dynamic characters and creating fun dialogue between Shoko and Charlie and between Sue and Helena, Shoko’s granddaughter.  Three generations populate these pages, but really How to Be an American Housewife is a story about the strong, independent women in this family.

About the Author:

Margaret Dilloway was inspired by her Japanese mother’s experiences when she wrote this novel, and especially by a book her father had given to her mother called The American Way of Housekeeping. She lives in Hawaii with her husband and three young children.

Please follow her on Twitter, check out her blog, and view the reading group guide for her debut novel.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours, Penguin, and Margaret Dilloway for sending me a copy of How to Be an American Housewife for review.

This is my 40th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

July 30, 2010 by

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose is the third book in the Reincarnationist series and FBI Lucian Glass remains on the trail of Dr. Malachai Samuels.

Reincarnation and the use of memory tools to reach deep into past lives reappears in this novel, alongside the use of hypnosis.  Glass is recovering from injuries sustained in The Memorist (If you missed my review of book 2, The Memorist, please check it out.), but he’s not eager to sit out the investigation on the sidelines.  In Vienna, he’s accosted while looking at the only translation of a list of memory tools, which would surely entice Samuels.

But there are other mysteries to be solved beyond who steals the list.  The Iranian government is eager to get its hands on a sculpture of Hypnos, even if it means court battles and other underhanded means.  Lucian’s past also resurfaces when a painting stolen from a framing shop where his girlfriend worked reappears more than 20 years later slashed to bits.

“Young and handsome, with sensitive eyes, sensuous lips and a finely wrought nose, his bone structure was elegant and the expression on his face was both sultry and serene . . . as if he was slipping into a dream himself.” (Page 105)

M.J. Rose carefully crafts a variety of characters and weaves in several story lines, while maintaining suspense and drama.  Not only are their mysteries to solve and memory tools to find, but Lucian must find himself and reconcile his past lives in order to move beyond the 20-year ball of pain he’s carried in his chest.  Overall, The Hypnotist is a fast-paced, absorbing read that will keep you on the edge of your seat this summer, but this thriller is a thinking-person’s game.  Can you solve the mysteries before FBI agent Glass?  The only way to find out is to pick up your copy or enter this giveaway!

About the Author:

M.J. Rose is the internationally bestselling author of several novels and two non-fiction books on marketing.  Check out her website, follow her on Twitter, and on Facebook. Check out a 100-page sampler from the Reincarnationist series.

The television series Past Life was based on Rose’s Reincarnationist series. The real stories about how she was inspired to write each book in this series as well as the knowledge she has about reincarnation and the art world make Rose an interesting and compelling blog guest. She’d love to visit.

Giveaway Details:  1 copy of The Hypnotist and a phoenix pin (US/Canada)

1.  Leave a comment on this post about whether you believe in reincarnation or not and why?

2.  Don’t forget to leave a way for me to contact you.

3.  Blog, Tweet, Facebook, etc. and leave me a link for an additional entry.

Deadline is August 13, 2010, 11:59 PM EST


This is my 13th book for the 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge.


Thanks to M.J. Rose, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc., and TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of The Hypnotist for review.

Filed Under: 2010 Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge, fiction, giveaway, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,

Paco’s Story by Larry Heinemann

July 28, 2010 by

Paco’s Story by Larry Heinemann chronicles the war experiences of Paco, the only surviving soldier of the Fire Base Harriette massacre from Alpha Company.  The narrative is unusual in that Paco does not tell his own story of his survival or his recovery and ultimate return to the United States from the Vietnam War.  Though readers get to know Paco through the eyes of others and his nightmares, Paco is a vivid and lost character in search of peace.

“Paco is in constant motion, trying to get settled and comfortable with that nagging, warm tingling in his legs and hips.”  (Page 35)

Heinemann’s language is raw, scraping down to the guts and bones in his readers, making them cringe, turn away, and stand agape.  A number of readers may find the graphic scenes in this novel to be too much, but what makes them uncomfortable are the realities of war and the breakdown of humanity.  Paco struggles not only with why he was the only survivor, but how to assimilate himself back into a society he no longer recognizes once stateside.

“(A body never gets used to humping, James.  When the word comes, you saddle your rucksack on your back, take a deep breath and set your jaw good and tight, then lean a little forward, as though you’re walking into a stiff and blunt nor’easter, and begin by putting one foot in front of the other.  . . .”  (Page 9)

Paco is an enigma, which is typical of most returning soldiers from the Vietnam War.  “The intricate ironwork–the tension beams and torsion beams and, overhead, trellis-looking crossbeams–is delicate and well made” (Page 66-7) is an image that will stick with readers as they wonder about Paco and his ability to return from the land of ghosts and emerge from the memories that haunt him.

“And he’s just a man like the rest of us, James, who wants to fuck away all that pain and redeem his body.”  (Page 173)

Heinemann is a brilliant writer, meshing the surreal with the reality of Paco’s life as a dishwasher in the Texas Lunch of Boone, Texas.  Ghosts that push Paco to remember, veterans that tell their own stories, and the looks of townsfolk as he hobbles to and from work all serve to keep Paco entrenched in the jungle with the events that took his innocence and his life.  Paco’s Story is an every soldier story in the way it depicts the horrors of war and the impact of those events on the psyche of those soldiers.

If you’ve missed the read-a-long discussion, please check out my answers to the discussion questions for sections 1, 2, and 3.

This is my 8th book for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: fiction, historical fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2010, reviews, Vietnam War Challenge 2010 Tagged With: ,

A Hundred Feet Over Hell by Jim Hooper

July 23, 2010 by

Jim Hooper‘s A Hundred Feet Over Hell is a true account of the 220th Reconnaissance Airplane Company, with which his brother Bill served as one of the Myth Makers flying single-engine Cessnas that were extremely vulnerable to artillery and other ground fire.  These men were charged with flying over hot zones and locating the enemy for bombers, giving precise coordinates for dropping bombs and napalm.

“Rather than sharing our joy at his return, Bill was angry.  Not because of the crippling wound received in an unpopular war — he accepted that as part of what he had signed on for.  The anger came from being here.  In a demonstration of uncompromising loyalty over logic, it was, he believed, a betrayal of the warrior family he’d left behind.”  (Page xi)

Hooper has captured the essence of these men and their time in Vietnam from their crazy stunts to the moments when they feared for their lives.  Through alternating points of view the stories unfold quickly as one man feeds off and expands on the story being told by their friend and colleague.  Readers will meet characters like Doc Clement and Charlie Finch, but these men are not characters, but real human beings who lived through the harsh realities of war.

“Bill Hooper:  . . . I can’t remember more of that day, save weeping in the privacy of my room.  Perhaps the saddest thing of all was that I would learn to be unemotional about killing, eventually joining others who were very good at it.”  (Page 23)

Hooper pulls no punches in the organization of this book and doesn’t seem to modify the military language these men used on a regular basis; some examples include VC for Viet Cong and DMZ for demilitarized zone, which is clearly a misnomer, to the lesser known terms DASC for Direct Air Support Control Center and Kit Carson scout for those former Viet Cong recruited to assist with counterintelligence.  Readers of military history and fiction are likely to understand many of these acronyms and terms easily, but others may have to refer to the provided glossary.  However, once they get a grip on the terminology, readers will plunge into the narrative easily, getting to know each of the soldiers and how they coped with the war.

A Hundred Feet Over Hell by Jim Hooper will remind readers of those in-the-field journalistic interviews with soldiers and those documentaries where one soldier begins a story only to be continued by another soldier, providing a deeper impact.  Each man shares their fears, their triumphs, and their more embarrassing moments.  One of the best books about the Vietnam War, not about infantry.

Please check out this book trailer to see what these men flew over enemy territory without armor or weapons.

A Hundred Feet Over Hell

Please also check out these great photos.

About the Author:

After graduating with a degree in Slavic Studies from the University of South Florida, Jim Hooper worked as a documentary research-writer for WFLA-TV in Tampa, with weekends set aside as a skydiving instructor and team captain. He gave up television after three years to devote himself full time to jumping out of airplanes, logging over 3000 freefalls and building the world’s premier skydiving center in Zephyrhills, Florida. His thirst for adventure unfulfilled, he sold the business in 1984 to realize a long-held dream of being a war correspondent and author, making his home in England and setting off for Africa.

I want to thank Lisa Roe at Online Publicist and the author Jim Hooper for sending me a copy of A Hundred Feet Over Hell for review.

This is my 39th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.

This is my 7th book for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, online publicist, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews, Vietnam War Challenge 2010 Tagged With: ,

Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty by Tony Hoagland

July 18, 2010 by

As part of the Graywolf Press — one of my favorite small presses that publishes poetry and fiction — Spotlight on Small Presses (click on the badge at the bottom of the post for the tour stops), I chose a poetry book to review, which I picked up at the 2010 Book Expo America.

Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty by Tony Hoagland is his first collection of poems in 10 years, according to the Graywolf representative at the expo.  The collection features poems that call into question the realities of the modern world from our dating rituals to our trips to the mall food court.

In “Big Grab,” Hoagland suggests language is taking on meanings that are less than they are.  “The Big Grab,/so the concept of Big is quietly modified/to mean More Or Less Large, or Only Slightly/Less Big than Before.// Confucius said this would happen –/that language would be hijacked and twisted/”  (page 5).  This collection not only tackles the language changes our society faces and what those changes mean, but it also looks carefully at the world of celebrity in “Poor Britney Spears.”

Expensive Hotel (page 24)

When the middle-class black family in the carpeted hall
passes the immigrant housekeeper from Belize, oh
that is an interesting moment.  One pair of eyes is lowered.

That’s how you know you are part
of a master race — where someone
humbles themselves without even having to be asked.

And in the moment trembling
from the stress of its creation,
we feel the illness underneath our skin —

the unquenchable wish to be thought well of
wilting and dying a little
while trying to squeeze by

the cart piled high with fresh towels and sheets,
small bars of soap and bottles
of bright green shampoo,

which are provided for guests to steal.

Hoagland’s crisp language and vivid imagery is deftly weaved with philosophical and societal questions we all should be answering or at least asking.  Has modern society twisted our culture into something worthwhile or is it something that should be tossed in the trash as a bad experiment.  However, there are moments of humor and deep sarcasm throughout the volume that offset one another to make readers ponder what the poet really desires from the modern world.  Readers will come away from the collection with a new focus on examining society and their part in it –whether they decide to continue assimilating is up to them.  Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty is a thought-provoking collection that urges readers to be unique and to think outside the box.

This is my 9th book for the Clover Bee & Reverie Poetry Challenge.

This is my 38th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2010 Clover Bee and Reverie Poetry Challenge, Graywolf Press, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Free to a Good Home by Eve Marie Mont

July 16, 2010 by

Eve Marie Mont‘s Free to a Good Home is a delightful read about Noelle Ryan whose husband, Jay, has finally told her his deepest secret — he’s gay — effectively obliterating her dream and forcing her to reassess her life.  Noelle has a successful, if stressful, career as a veterinary technician, but she occupies most of her time with her family and the dogs at the shelter, rather than coping with her own problems.  She’d rather solve everyone else’s problems and be the good person that everyone leans on when they need consoling or help.

“‘Sure,’ I say, handing him my cup.  He’s cute.  Messy brown hair, crinkly eyes, and that sexy clenched jaw thing.  Too cute.  A turn-your-brain-to-clotted-cream cute.”  (page 32)

Noelle is passionate about saving animals and finding them homes, but she’s also passionate about helping people, including her WASP ex-mother-in-law, Margaret, who made her marriage miserable. However, what will get to readers is how much of a doormat Noelle is when it comes to Jay; he asks her to do many unthinkable favors including taking care of his mother.  Many readers will want to scream at this character and beat her back to her senses.  While Jay is not a bad guy per se, he crosses the line in his relationship with Noelle, which effectively prevents her from moving on with her life even after she meets a gorgeous musician named Jasper.

“‘Luxwood Victorian Gardens.’

‘They make it sound so pleasant.  Like you’re staying in some luxurious estate, Blithewold Mansion for the physically impaired.’

‘Well, they have to do that to get people in the door.  They can’t very well call the place Let-Us-Steal-Your Independence Gardens.’

‘Feed-Us-Flavorless-Food-Courtyard.’

‘Watch-Jeopardy-Until-You-Die-Village.'”  (page 193)

However, Mont’s writing is engaging and dramatic and even humorous.  If you love animals and a bit of romance in your summer reading with a good dose of drama, Free to a Good Home will fit your needs.

About the Author:

Eve Mont lives with her husband, Ken, and her shelter dog, Maggie, in suburban Philadelphia, where she teaches high school English and creative writing. Free to a Good Home is her first novel, which was released on  July 6, 2010. She is currently working on her second novel.

http://www.literaryescapism.com/new-author-challenge10

This is my 37th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2010, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa

July 15, 2010 by

Yusef Komunyakaa‘s Dien Cai Dau is another collection of Vietnam War poetry.  The poet, who received the Bronze Star and edited The Southern Cross, dedicates this book to his brother Glenn, “who saw The Nam before” Komunyakaa did.  His poems put the reader in the soldiers’ shoes, allowing them to camouflage themselves and skulk around the jungles of Vietnam from the very first lines of “Camouflaging the Chimera.”  Beyond skulking in the jungle, hunting the Viet Cong, Komunyakaa discusses the weight of war as soldiers trudge through the landscape with their equipment and what they’ve done and seen.  Weaving through the tunnels looking for the enemy or searching the thick forest, soldiers are constantly reminded of their emotional and physical burdens, though they find joy in some of the smallest moments.

One of the beautiful aspects of Komunyakaa’s poetry is his vivid sense of how even the most beautiful elements of nature have a darker side.  In “Somewhere Near Phu Bai,” Komunyakaa writes “The moon cuts through/the night trees like a circular saw/white hot.  . . .” and in “Starlight Scope Myopia,” he suggests, “Viet Cong/move under our eyelids,/lords over loneliness/winding like coral vine through/sandalwood & lotus/.”

Beyond the nature imagery and the immediacy of the war, some of these poems have an analytical quality much like a general planning out the battle moves.  Each move of the soldiers is reflected in the carefully chosen words and lines, and the effect is genuine, creating a suspense and fear readers would expect soldiers to experience.

A Greenness Taller Than Gods (Page 11)

When we stop,
a green snake starts again
through deep branches.
Spiders mend webs we marched into.
Monkeys jabber in flame trees,
dancing on the limbs to make
fire-colored petals fall.  Torch birds
burn through the dark-green day.
The lieutenant puts on sunglasses
& points to a X circled
on his map.  When will we learn
to move like trees move?
The point man raises his hand Wait!
We’ve just crossed paths with VC,
branches left quivering.
The lieutenant’s right hand says what to do.
We walk into a clearing that blinds.
We move like a platoon of silhouettes
balancing sledge hammers on our heads,
unaware our shadows have untied
from us, wandered off
& gotten lost.

Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa is an excellent collection that will allow readers to join the fight in Vietnam, feel the fear and anxiety of soldiers, and see just how many enemies soldiers faced — the Viet Cong and the jungle.  Komunyakaa is a poet with incredible insight from propelling emotions off the page through images to using carefully chosen words and phrases to vividly paint the scene.  Dien Cai Dau is one of the best poetry books about the Vietnam War and often reads like prose.

This is my 6th book for the 2010 Vietnam War Reading Challenge

This is my 8th book for the Clover Bee & Reverie Poetry Challenge.

Filed Under: 2010 Clover Bee and Reverie Poetry Challenge, poetry, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2010, reviews, Vietnam War Challenge 2010 Tagged With: ,