Reviews for Torn Awake

The average rating for Torn Awake based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-10-25 00:00:00 Mark Hansen Gander is such a pretty writer. I think it's got something to do with his knowledge of bird, bark, rock, etc. and of (what seems like) all the words one needs to speak knowledgeably (and concisely)about such things. It's also got something to do with his tendency to collapse space and time: "he" and his son become the ant his son dangles over the ant-lion; through the hall, where the throng rushes the fleeing queen, tourists walk, "swayed by plans for lunch." What's great about this book in particular is how Gander's diction and sophisticated sense of time and place are applied to (somewhat) self-conscious third person depictions of inter-personal relationships. These are the "father-son poem," the "couple poem," the "family poem," the-"place-I-love-poem," yes, but Gander's approach rejuvenates the otherwise all-too-familiar gestures. Ex: "By the way he has raised his hand to her face/as though it were an innovation on faces or merely the envelope/for his admiring, as though a hand could say 'thou'--we recognize them,/lovers who have rushed//to the wood's edge//on trails of inference/through all the thicknesses of scattered and divergent signs,/flying the contagion. What plague this time? What time?" Favorites: The Hugeness of That Which is Missing, To the Reader, and To Eurydice

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-19 00:00:00 Scott Goodman I bought this book of poems along with Science & Steepleflower. I must say, I have added this author to my favorite's list. Another reviewer characterized this book of poems as a "solid sucker punch." I agree. From "Carried Across" "Long negra-azul hair rivers to the Ahh of her back." I found this line to stand out for it's beauty and intimacy which made me feel almost embarrassed...as if I was intruding on a moment not meant for me. Love it.