Reviews for Collected Poems & Translations

The average rating for Collected Poems & Translations based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-11-20 00:00:00 Claudia Harrison [ Imagine a 9 years old quiet but gritty orphaned girl who gets picked on or looked down upon by her 20 years old foster cousin. For him, her quiet stoicism (as she fears being sent back to the �home�) translates to sly covetousness and her response to affection from the foster mother and grandfather as ingratiating behavior. He sides with his own cousin (the ow/her foster sister) throughout their childhood. Like, as the h points out, he made sure she got left out of any rides she wanted and the other girl was taken instead. Or imagine an adult (him!) slipping in a dead mouse in a little girl�s pocket as a prank! (And then these silly hs go ahead and fall in love with such hateful characters should say a lot about them too.) But in all such stories, it is usually revealed later that he was actually attracted to her at some level (at least in her later teenage years and thus the transferred hostility) or at least he had some liking/felt sorry for her. But not this H. As he blithely tells her that he never really liked her as a person, and physically she always paled in front of her more vivacious foster sister and so he never really noticed her that way until when they meet now in the present! Not even when she apparently threw herself at him when she was 16/17. (Btw the past is quite hazy as is not clearly portrayed but is just alluded to here and there.) Secondly, the problems with the h. She starts out as someone with a lot of sass and also grit (reminding me of another JM h I liked a lot) but then as the story meandered and stagnated, all her so called strength comes to a naught. When the evil foster sister makes a comeback, all her spunk goes the way of noodles in hot water. I love a h who gives back good to evil blackmailing people. Not those who just unravel and stare back slack mouthed. Or worse make excuses/justifications for bad people�s bad behavior. Also, she is never shown even a bit pained/affected that the H and his first cousin have had sex and produced a child. Her saint/martyr-dom was anyways complete when she let the f sister stay with her during the pregnancy and then keeps the child while the flighty ow goes off chasing fame and fortune. Thirdly, when and where was the love? He hated and baited her for 90% of the book and suddenly decides she�s the one for him? And that midway proposal? One minute they are are talking in hypotheticals and next minute they are engaged, in a most bloodless and boring way imaginable. If I didn't know the title, I would have missed the proposal completely in the farce. What can be termed likable? The h in the beginning, of course. Why these hs never really appreciate the genuinely warm loving men they get as exes/husbands in their lives, but are perpetually in love with the louses? So yes, I liked the dead husband for the person he was. Older, caring, willing to take on her responsibilities, an ex car racer (that sure added to the personality!) The boy was adorable. Irrepressible, up to all no-goods as all little boys ought to, fiercely protective of the h- in fact head-butts the H when he thinks he had made �Ellis� cry. And yes, in a smart evasive move by the author, calls her Ellis as mummies are things wrapped in bandages in museums! (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-25 00:00:00 Michael Bahr Hero slut-shames heroine pretty much to the last page, all because heroine lied and connived and sacrificed for years to protect her worthless, deadbeat foster sister, who by the way gets no comeuppance at all and will remain in their lives like the succubus parasite that she is for the rest of eternity.