From: Christine Hill <chill>
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 10:40:10 -0500

I enjoyed Carver: A Life in Poems deeply and found many of the poems powerful and moving. The poem that continues to haunt me is the one in which he testifies before Congress only to be insulted by a congressman (sorry, I don't have the book in front of me and can't identify it by title.) As much as I know about the history of racism in our country, I still found it shocking for it to have been so nakedly displayed in the halls of Congress.

Without taking anything away from the book, I had one little quibble with it and wonder if anyone else felt as I do. Most of the poems are in the voices of people who knew Carver, rather than his own. Those in his own voice are mostly (or only, sorry that I can't verify this) at the end. At first I found the variety of viewpoints fascinating, but then I began to feel that there was a hole at the middle of the testimony where his voice should have been. Even the final poems where he speaks didn't satisfy me completely. Perhaps the author meant us to perceive him as enigmatic and did this intentionally. What do others think?

Christine M. Hill Willingboro Public Library One Salem Road Willingboro NJ 08046 chill at willingboro.org Coming in April! Ten Hispanic American Authors, Enslow, 2002
Received on Thu 07 Feb 2002 09:40:10 AM CST