Great Whirl of Exile [Paperback]

Leroy V. Quintana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

Leroy V. Quintana is a major force in contemporary poetry. His work is endowed not only with a raucous frontier humor, but also a remarkable emotional range, from comic depictions of adolescent love to moving poems of death and loss, to reflections on his war experience in Vietnam. "It was about 1958 or so when we finally got a phone,/ but the only girl I had enough nerve to call/ was the one who seemed to whisper, faithfully/ as well as exactly, what time it was, any time I called" -- "Faithfully as Well as Exactly".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Leroy Quintana's poems,  these shards of penetrating clarity, are filled with surprises that force us to question ourselves." --Yusef Komunyakaa

"Leroy Quintana captures a 'period of Chicano history few poets write about." --The Nation

Book Description

Leroy V. Quintana is a major force in contemporary poetry. His work is endowed not only with a raucous frontier humor, but also a remarkable emotional range, from comic depictions of adolescent love to moving poems of death and loss, to reflections on his war experience in Vietnam. "It was about 1958 or so when we finally got a phone,/ but the only girl I had enough nerve to call/ was the one who seemed to whisper, faithfully/ as well as exactly, what time it was, any time I called" -- "Faithfully as Well as Exactly".

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 59 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Books; 1st edition (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880684608
• ISBN-13: 978-1880684603
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise For Quintana's THE GREAT WHIRL OF EXILE, September 10, 2001

By 

Curbstone Press, Jantje Tielken, Editorial As... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Whirl of Exile (Paperback)

For those who know his history, it is no surprise that Leroy V. Quintana is a great story-teller in his poetry. He was raised in Albuquerque by Mexican grandparents, who told him numerous folk-tales (Cuentos) as a child. "In many ways, I'm still basically a small-town New Mexico boy carrying on the oral tradition," he comments. His work is endowed not only with a raucous frontier humor, but also a remarkable emotional range, from comic depiction's of adolescent love to moving poems of death and loss, to reflections on his war experience in Vietnam.

"Quintana captures "a period of Chicano history few poets write about." --The Nation

"The voice of the poet is unmistakable in each [poem], a voice that plays with words and delights readers. These are poems that invite us to read them aloud, to savor their language and originality, and to reflect on the stories they tell." --MultiCultural Review

"Quintana's...passion for rendering the lives of New Mexicans has produced a nationally acclaimed body of work...a love for his community explodes into lean and lucid poems with a universal appeal." --Albuquerque Journal

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Whirl of Exile, May 30, 2000

By 

James D. Eret - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Whirl of Exile (Paperback)

Sometimes we look at short poems and think they are simple, in that not much will be said. Leroy V. Quintana,a Chicano poet, writing at the top of his art, says more in a few lines than some modern poets say in entire books. A teacher in a university, his work shows very few signs of academic taint. The situations and images he presents are fresh and sometimes startling, and always thought-provoking. This is a man who has not lost contact with his roots, going back and forth between his childhood in New Mexico, to his serving as a combat veteran in Vietnam (read also his excellent book about Vietnam: "Interrogations") and currently a professor in San Diego. Always he writes about the ambivalence of cultures, writes with great wit, compassion, and with healing power. Yes, he writes about his ethnicity and writes wonderfully about it, but his range and focus is far greater. Highly recommended and if you buy this book, order his others, all in print, written full of deep wisdom.

5.0 out of 5 stars chicano euphoria without limits nor borders, May 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Whirl of Exile (Paperback)

Leroy Quintana is the fullest embodiment of what can heal, like an exilir of brown-skinned proportions, that which ails the chicano spirit. In this book, he fashions a myriad of, otherwise cultural secrets, into a tapestry of viceral truths open for all to absorb. Joining Quintana in his "Whilr of Exile" was resoundingly GREAT! "Omen", Quintana's personal poem of paternal retrospective for a daughter, encompasses that knot of anticipation, the "butterflies" of excitement that so many non-verbose men uneloquently call "anticipation", and from behind the eye of a needle shows his emotion and love. This book, even from a distance, set top-left of my bookcase beckons for eyes and minds to join the "Whirl". A must read and keep and share!