Here, Bullet by Brian Turner
|
Book Summary Author: Brian Turner Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2005-11-01 ISBN: 1882295552 Number of pages: 80 Publisher: Alice James Books Product features:
|
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $8.49 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $4.19 | ||
| Collectible | Collectible Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $45.00 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Book Reviews of the Here, Bullet
Customer Review: An unspent shell of a book
Summary: 1 Stars
Let me start off by saying this, to head off any attacks: I have family in the service and am in no way critiquing either the war featured in this book or this (and other) serviceman's sacrifice to our country. This is not a political critique. This is a critique of Mr. Turner's poetics.
That being said, I think this writer has promise. He does indeed have a keen eye for detail and he does capture the horrors and mundane existence of modern warfare. Nevertheless, when it comes to the craft of poetry, Mr. Turner could have used a more critical eye on his poetry, both from himself and an editor at Alice James. After all, the images (let's just call them plain descriptions) of war notwithstanding, it becomes very clear that the people to whom Turner entrusted his poetry dropped the ball and failed to criticize his work in a meaningful and productive way. There is no rhyme, no meter, no form. Yes, modern poetry is a cesspool of free verse "stream-of-consciousness" MFA chatter. For that Mr. Turner cannot be blamed. However, these poems might have been better served as vignettes or perhaps even short stories. The bluster and praise seems to simply be because people are astounded to see a literate soldier. Media imagery would lead us to believe that they all listen to Metallica and purposefully waste civilians.
It must be said...here is a poetic soul. Here is a voice that longs to capture the sense of what it means to fight. To witness. To risk. But a well-turned phrase, a line with purpose and the sweat of labor, a fine-tuned teardrop of a descriptive phrase...all of these are missing.