Genre: Poetry
Year Published: 1990
I cannot even tell you all how miserably disappointing this book was to me. I've read one other Glück book -- Vita Nova, which is one of my all-time favorite books of poetry. So I picked up Ararat expecting the same exquisitely refined turns of phrase and beautiful images.
But Ararat is a bitter, clumsy book that focuses on one topic -- her family -- with the singleminded focus of a therapy patient. There was not a scrap of enjoyment to be had from any of the poems. Depressing poetry can illuminate circumstances without being easy to read, but most of the pieces in Ararat read like lines cribbed from Glück's diary. She writes of her sister: "That means/she's going to feel deprived again." Of her mother and aunt: "It's how they were raised: you show respect by fighting./To let up insults the opponent." Of her father: "he showed/contempt for emotion." There is no maturity or art in her observations. It's a rotten read, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Recommended? No. A thousand times no.
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