Reviews for Slamming Open the Door

The average rating for Slamming Open the Door based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-24 00:00:00 Gary Chack After reading the first few poems in this book, I knew I would have to read them all before I would be able to set it down again. This is an amazingly, heartbreakingly honest glimpse into the pain of a mother grieving for her murdered daughter. I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up this book. The titles and the few lines that I read as I flipped through it caught my attention and drew me into an unforgettable experience. The author truly grabbed my heart as I lost myself in the raw emotion of her prose. Slamming Open the Door did just as the title suggests. I was totally swept away by this book. I highly recommend it, even if you are not that interested in poetry. This was more that simply a book of poems. Slamming Open the Door is about pain, heartbreak, and loss, in short, this is a small volume of humanity.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-25 00:00:00 Carl Pietrantonio The author's daughter was murdered just as she was beginning her career as a nurse. The entire very short book is a series of poems describing the death, funeral, trial, and aftermath. All the time I was reading it, I had such a confused feeling because the poetry was so beautiful, but the pain was so real, and knowing it was a true story made me feel a bit like I was exploiting this poor woman's tragedy. It is every parent's worst nightmare, and somehow, I want the poetry to exist without the death having occurred. From "What not to Say" . . . .And when I stand in the receiving line like Jackie Kennedy without the pillbox hat, if Jackie were fat and had taken enough Klonopin to still an ox, and you whisper, "I think of you every day," don't finish with "because I have been going to Weight Watchers on Tuesdays and wonder if you want to go too."