Customer Reviews

Beyond This Dark House

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a long-time admirer of this author's fantasy novels, filled with magic due in part to his lyrical use of words. I was overjoyed to rediscover this author as a poet. For fans of his, who might shy away from poetry, don't pass this up. His poems have a haunting, quiet quality that really gets under your skin. He writes about things all of us can relate to. This is a masterpiece by a truly gifted writer.

Guy's poetry has long been read in short pieces during reading of his long novels. For the first time many of his poems are laid out for the reader. He is a master craftsman.

Who's the idiot who wrote, "the book had a nausighating plot and horrible character developement. The book was just a mish-mash of quantitative trash. Please, for the good of the human race"

This is a book of poetry, for heaven's sake. Poetry isn't supposed to have a plot or characters. And by the way, "quantitative" means numerical, as in scientific. So you're completely wrong on both counts.

It's a fine book.

I have all of Kay's novels and bought this out of curiosity. Not being a serious poetry fan, I just browsed through it for an hour. Many poems seem to come from Kay's life and are based here in the real world. There were five or ten that particularly resonated for me and I enjoyed those. For $12, this book will best appeal to Kay collectors or serious poetry buffs.

I feel that the power behind Guy Gavriel Kay's fiction can be traced to his ability to blend a fantasy world that allows his reader escape with a reality that makes that world tangible and credible. In "Beyond This Dark House", a collection of poems by Kay, a similar pattern ensues. For, while he constructs poems that span from descriptions of extended periods of time to snapshots of moments, and that embody perspectives on mythical archetypes as well as interpretations of contemporary banalities, he offers an opportunity for the reader to become lost in the beautiful intricacy of his composition, while discovering a personal reality. Because, moreso than his commanding fiction, Kay's poems invite a connection to the writer and, by extension, an important view to the web of human experience and spirit. Composed from Kay's heart, and masterfully edited by George Amabile, Beyond This Dark House is an excellent addition to a poet's repertoire of readings, and a palatable collection for anyone who values literary acumen in its various forms.