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Inconsistent, but when it's good, it's very good.
“Philip Schultz, Failure (Harcourt, 2007)
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-14.
I got about a third of the way through Failure then misplaced the book. Once I found it and started again, I found I liked it better, thus adding more evidence to my hypothesis that the current emotions of the reader affect what s/he feels about any given book. Which sounds like an optimistic beginning to this review, but I didn't like it that much better.
Narrative poetry is a tricky thing, especially given that poetry is where that old chestnut "show, don't tell" does the majority of its heavy lifting. Sometimes the line gets blurry enough that you can read a passage either way. The poets who tread this particular line tend to be more inconsistent than most, for obvious reasons; I can't think of anyone who always manages to stay on the "show" side. Then again, such things may be judgment calls. I'll leave it to you:
"Patricia says, the Righteous Brothers and I
moved in Thanksgiving, 1977,
and immediately began looking for
that ever-loving feeling, rejoicing
at being a citizen of the ever-clanging future,
all of us walking up Perry Street,
down West Tenth, around Bleecker,
along the Hudson, with dogs, girlfriends..."
("The Adventures of 78 Charles Street")
It looks like a pretty clear-cut example of "tell" to me. But, as usual, one can find a just-about-equal number of examples of "show", most of which are in the back half of the book (which can also be used as evidence that the emotions of the reader have nothing to do with his or her feelings about the book), which is comprised of the long poem "The Wandering Wingless". It's worth reading, but it probably won't be the best book you pick up this year. ***
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Fail Faster
“Ok, how not to start with the end of the line from Beckett. Failure is a beautiful collection of poems. The first ones sneak up on you, like the flakes of a season's first snow, dislked but then stunning in their magic. Failure creeps into all aspects of Schultz's life, in his relationships, in his thoughts, in his actions. Nothing is good enough it seems, but can that in itself be beauty? Can that be good enough? "I could sit by the window watching the leaves,/which seem to know exactly how to fall/ from one moment to the next. Or I could lose/ everything and have to begin over again." Schultz plays with simple words and simple phrases, striving for straight emotions but ending up peripherally skirting them -- but this gives the poems strength by way of the contrast of phraseology and semantic content. The final poem is a long meditation on dog walking and life and death. "I don't know how to proceed,/ I said, I never knew/ because/ it hurts so bad.//Yes it does, he said,/ Yes, indeed." Tinged by melancholy and loss, the poems are shining gems. Don't fail to get a copy.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-11. -
0 of 2 members found this review helpful.
disappointment
“I was disappointed in this book. Because it won the pulitzer with Robert Hass, who is an excellent poet, I thought this book would similarly be good. It isn't. Far from it. If you read some sample poems inside the book here in amazon and like it, I assure you those are the best ones; the rest are middling. Let me explain why I think so: Schultz is cliche; he says nothing new and says it in ways that do not only border on cloying but inhabit cloyingness. He isn't as "honest" as people would have you believe; the poems come off to me as very contrived, it's as if he wants the poems to "appear honest" or "truthful" or "evoking emotions from the reader" but ultimately he fails. There are books whose honesty feels natural, and so we say, "wow, that book made me cry," or "what a harrowing story." Schultz tries to get that effect, but it turns out affected. I realize now that the reason this is so is, Schultz just doesn't have the skill. When I think of skill, I think of Robert Hass, Mary Oliver, Jorie Graham, Frank Bidart, Carolyn Forche. When you read those poets, you're in the room of the poem and you're so sure of the existence of the room you don't question it. With Schultz, you always question the room; it's almost always falling down on you. The long poem in this book, "The Wandering Wingless" is the most badly executed long poem I have ever read. And this is no exaggeration. Schultz doesn't know how to write a long poem; the order is unconvincing, the juxtapositions are weak; just bad. I truly wanted to enjoy this book, but it is just so egregiously inept I just want to warn others. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-03-21. -
3 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Failure
“My determination for liking a poem is whether it makes me see or feel a subject in a new or unique way. Philip Shultz succeeds in doing this in the majority of his offerings for this collection--the ironic title not withstanding. There is also a coziness in many of the pieces that settles nicely over one as the poems are read.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-12-21. -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Very human and beautiful!!
“This work is very touching, deep, serious, human and beautiful.
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-12-19.
The stories and characters are greatly depicted.
We all have failures. This book is a success in taking them up.
I am very impressed by it!!”
