Reviews for Book of life

The average rating for Book of life based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-10 00:00:00 Christer Hedberg I came to Blood Ties after having been impressed by Hill's second book, Dangerous Goods, still the place I'd start with his work. Blood Ties is very much a first volume, mostly in the best ways. Reading backwards, you can hear the rhythms and images he uses to somewhat greater effect in DG. And. like many first books, much of the energy is devoted to an excavation of family (and for Hill that entails Southern African American) history, which means that its inevitably reminiscent of other treatments of similar material. There's a bit of Langston Hughes' blues sensibility and some of Rita Dove's Thomas & Beulah, especially in the last of the four divisions of the book, "What You Want to Know." Not derivative, more the result of what Ralph Ellison called the "relative" relationship between texts growing out of related experiences. My favorites were "Willie's Say 1954" and "In Memory Hill Cemetery." Also recommended: "Milledgevill Haiburn," "Uncle John," and "I Was Born...Redux."

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-24 00:00:00 Christi Siebenthal I first read this poet in the anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song edited by Kevin Young. I was impressed and wanted to read more of his work. This collection starts with a quote from James Baldwin, "The responsibility of a writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him." Hill gives the reader an insight into the people and places who produced him. He is a Georgia native and the history of the state and region shine through in the poems. He references slavery, lynching and historic events. The title of the collection is perfect. The poet includes a family tree in the collection amid poems that focus on family.