Anthracite Country [Paperback]

Parini (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; First Edition edition (February 1982)
• ISBN-10: 0394704541
• ISBN-13: 978-0394704548
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,507,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jay Parini is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College, Vermont. His six novels also include Benjamins Crossing and The Apprentice Lover. His volumes of poetry include The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems. In addition to biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost and William Faulkner, he has written a volume of essays on literature and politics, as well as The Art of Teaching. He edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature and writes regularly for the Guardian and other publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A book of decent poems on coal mining and the hard coal region, February 4, 2009

By 

Norman Strojny "retired tech-person" (western desert of Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anthracite Country (Paperback)

"Anthracite Country" is a book of decent poems on coal mining and the hard coal region of Pennsylvania. I grew up near Wilkes-Barre, while the mines were still operating. These poems have much truth to them.

I am attracted to poetry but am no critic of the art form. A true poetry critic would be much tougher than I about the quality of the poems. However, I found the flavor of the words to ring true. This is a different, multi-cultural, region. The deep mines are gone and the miners and their widows are, mostly, dead. The area is changing rapidly, today. Yet, there are some echoes of the bygone coal era. This book offers a peak inside some of that past era. As far as I am concerned, as a past resident, this book deserves more than three stars. But, you did not grow up there and this book will not pull on your heartstrings in the way it does for me. So, you will consider my three star rating to be more truthful than the higher rating I think the book deserves.

Perhaps the poems will induce you to visit the area. Just remember, I did say it was and is 'different' from much of the USA. I wish I could come along and point out how different. Be sure to do a lot of homework before visiting the region. Also, see if guided tours are available.