Greed [Hardcover]

Ai (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1993

Greed for money, power, sex, and love is the theme of this volume of dramatic monologues by the poet the New York Times Book Review has called "one of the most singular voices of her generation."

Beginning with "Riot Act," a monologue about the Los Angeles uprising in April 1992, Ai explored racial and sexual politics through the voices of diverse characters.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her fifth book, Ai ( Fate ) imagines and experiences contemporary degrees of American violence: who commits it, who endures it, and who does not. Her poems are narrated by a fairly raunchy cast of public and private people that includes an anonymous looter, Marion Barry, J. Edgar Hoover, a battered wife who finally shoots her husband, and an ice cream man, once molested by his parents, who himself molests children on the job. The violence is physical, sexual, moral; flamboyant or withheld; crafty, or senseless. And the poetry serves to bear witness, not indulge in excess--it is notable, partly, for an austerity. As in her earlier work, the poet's directness of address is an impressively leveling power, laying open complex situations with an odd, unapologetic, sometimes devastating candor: "I shot him, I say, he beat me," reports the abused wife of her husband in "Finished." But there is no redressing an injustice, and nobody can be righteous. The wife concludes, "I do not tell them how the emancipation from pain / leaves nothing in its place." Ai looks for wrongs, and doesn't right them. That isn't easy, and it seems truthful.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Archangel
Endangered Species
Family Portrait, 1960
Finished
Greed
Hoover Trismegistus
Hoover, Edgar J.: 1
Hoover, Edgar J.: 2
Hoover, Edgar J.: 3
The Ice Cream Man
Jack Ruby On Ice
Knockout
Life Story
Lust, Love, And Loss: 1. Zero Velocity
Lust, Love, And Loss: 2. Zero Velocity
Lust, Love, And Loss: 3. Appomattox
Lust, Love, And Loss: 3. Dream Lover
Miracle In Manila
Oswald Incognito & Astral Travels
Party Line
Penis Envy
Reconciliation: 1. Birth Mother
Reconciliation: 2. Oedipus, The Son
Reconciliation: 3. Fatherhood
Reconciliation: 3. Motherhood
Respect, 1967
Riot Act, April 29, 1992
Self Defense
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton; 1st edition (December 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393035611
• ISBN-13: 978-0393035612
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,856,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars It's all in here..., July 13, 2007

By 

Robert E. Davis "21south" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greed (Paperback)

Murder, deceit, 1992 riots, domestic abuse, incest, PTSD, the Savings & Loan scandal, illicit love affairs, whores, pimps, and more; it's all in there in Ai's fifth book. This was my first exposure to her work and I was surprised at how hard-hitting the book is on a number of subjects. An interesting twist from most "personal" or "confessional" poems is that Ai tells her stories from both a female and male perspective. These are very visual works. If you like Bukowski, Denis Johnson, Jim Carroll or other hard edge poets, you'll like Ai.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great poetry, by a great poet, October 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Greed (Paperback)

Just to let it be knownthat her name is Ai, not Aie..