Allegory of the Supermarket (The Contemporary Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Stephanie Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999 | Series: The Contemporary Poetry Series

Stephanie Brown offers a hint of something curiously ominous through the sly epigraph she chooses from Henry James--"The amount of thought they give to their clothing, the people who are afraid of looking frivolous!" But we should already have known something unsettling was about to happen from this book's title, which suggests the devastating playfulness at work in these poems. One poem deals with vacationing librarians: "it's not so simple that we're prim and went to the exotic / Though perhaps that's what the story really is." What the story "really is" is sometimes what it seems but with a twist; and it is sometimes so ironically envisioned you would hardly believe this was California. These poems are indeed allegorical, but this is a thoroughly modern allegory dealing with a frighteningly up-to-date set of situations.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Despite some obvious clinkers, this first collection is often very entertaining, which is no easy feat these days: sly and sexy, dry and ironic, jaded and funny, Brown catches you off guard with her playground rhymes and street-song repetitions. And her titles are often a hoot in themselves: I Was a Phony Baloney!, No, No Nostalgia!, Mommy Is a Scary Narcissist, and so on. But the humor isnt all one-note jokes and giggly post-feminist wise-cracks. Many of her character studies verge on diatribe, yet still bear the empathy of one whos been there, done that: in Feminine Intuition, she mocks and mourns female fad- followers, bitter singles, and brittle old ladies; and Five Sketches are spare, cutting portraits of a professional woman, an earth mother, and a Miss America type, with references to legendary difficult women like Mary McCarthy and Clare Luce. Other knowing poems goof on a woman obsessed with working out (a gargoyle for the Age of the Physically Fit); criticize the lipo- sucked; and scorn the sentimentalists (Warm, Fuzzy). Browns wit and anger also target men: the seducers and flatterers, the self-satisfied suburbanites and the beer-gutted bores. Prose poems, a few of which first appeared in the high-brow porno mag Yellow Silk, chart the poets desires through puberty, graduate school, and a near-lesbian encounter, with her eventually abandoning lust for simple sacrifice order and love. It feels a bit padded, but this welcome debut announces a voice both smart and original. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"Here's a poetic voice calling out from a postmodern arcade, where 'each day the sun shines steadily, no more than is necessary,' toward a post-California arcadia, where 'sacrifice, order and love' take on frightening proportions. Richocet off the culture with Stephanie Brown in this debut book, until each poem stops and you are thrown forward, back to your own humanity. That's where one of our voices says, 'Most of all, I would have harmed the soldier whose job it was to kill me.'"--Jane Miller

"Brown's tart insights . . . show that humor can sting as well as beguile."--People

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820320684
• ISBN-13: 978-0820320687
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,274,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best!, June 9, 2004

By 

"alimarben" (Oklahoma City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allegory of the Supermarket (The Contemporary Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Great for women of all natures, especially other writers who are able to appreciate and understand Brown's astute observation of human behavior and all its flaws. GREAT READ. You'll return to this book to enjoy how fresh each poem is--no matter how many times you've read them. I especially love the poems that address beauty and weight concerns, as well as our tendency to become obsessed with the exterior. Her title poem is great, too. A very unique allegory that will have you thinking profoundly the next time you go grocery shopping. READ IT!

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, February 23, 2002

By 

Nichola "N.S" (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allegory of the Supermarket (The Contemporary Poetry Series) (Paperback)

This is a poetry book I keep coming back to. It's great for a quiet night inside; it's honest, brave, and empowering. As a poet myself, I return to Brown's book because of the admiration I have for the style and veracious voice she uses to examine some of culture's most inexplicable reasonings. This book is definately one of my favorites and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty and Enjoyable, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Allegory of the Supermarket (The Contemporary Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Brown's poems tend to deal with daily domestic and upper-middle class life in an non-domestic, not-so upper-class style. They target more than one subject at more than one angle, whether its women obsessed with their own physical appearances, suave-feeling cheeseball men, suburbanites, the petty upper-class or mentally unstable parents. The poems take chances with rhymes and experiments with repetition and rhythms which often produce sing-song narrative. Her best poems are "I Was a Phony Baloney!" and "Mommy Is A Scary Narcissist."