Suresh Kanna Kanna itibaren Mahamud Pur, Uttar Pradesh 224168, India
"Meh" just about sums it up. I really looked forward to reading this book. So many people had raved about it and about how it had changed their outlook on life. Even teachers that I respect had sung its praises. I was duly unimpressed. The story was fine, but not earth-shattering. It's worth reading, for sure--but not worth raving over.
Grace Paley's life and politics shine through with clarity in this posthumous collection of her work. She writes of her life in New York, and of her life in Vermont; of friends, and of lovers. Most notably, she writes of what it's like to grow older, and to watch one's friends disappear one by one. "The word dead is correct / but inappropriate," she offers. Her most poignant poem for me--an untitled piece--addresses a moment in which she craved to call her sister on the phone immediately, and after she called and the automatic telephonic voice informed her that the number had been disconnected, Paley felt relief; she was happy only to discover that even two years after her sister's death, they still hadn't assigned her sister's number to someone new. It may be difficult for a younger audience to grasp some of Paley's themes and concepts in Fidelity, but I believe it speaks well enough to still be considered despite the potentially large age gap between Paley and her reader in this piece. As a writer, I really hope to thoughtfully consider and play around with Paley's poetic form; her playfulness with word spacing has allowed her to create an entire collection without a single punctuation mark.
Essays from religious men on the theology of the death of God. Thought-provoking, but ultimately unsatisfying.