Hotel Insomnia [Paperback]

Charles Simic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 1992

In this volume, Simic fills the wee hours of his poetry with angels and pigs, riddles and cemeteries. His is a rich, haunted world of East European memory and american present-a world of his own creation, one always full of luminous surprise. “Simic writes so simply that his words fall like drops of water, but they ripple outward to evoke an ominous and numinous world” (Washington Post Book World).

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"Memory makes you hungry," writes Simic, whose poems are like folk tales told by a child with an impishly surrealistic streak. Memories of shadowy streets and rooms are haunted by an insomnia that suggests an enchanted dreamtime of watchfulness and revelation, where "everything is a magic ritual,/ a secret cinema." One of the most original poets writing today, Simic has a gift for startling juxtapositions: "Sleeplessness, you're like a pawnshop/Open late/ On a street of failing businesses." Homely images, in Simic's hands, take on an eerie combination of the marvelous and the absurd, "Father studied theology through the mail/ and this was exam time./Mother knitted. I sat quietly with a book/full of pictures. Night fell./ My hands grew cold touching the faces/ of dead kings and queens." There are few poets writing today whose sense of wonder is so palpable: "happiness, you are the bright red lining/of the dark winter coat/ grief wears inside out." Recommended for all collections.
-Christine Stenstrom, Shea and Gould Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Memory makes you hungry," writes Simic, whose poems are like folk tales told by a child with an impishly surrealistic streak. Memories of shadowy streets and rooms are haunted by an insomnia that suggests an enchanted dreamtime of watchfulness and revelation, where "everything is a magic ritual,/ a secret cinema." One of the most original poets writing today, Simic has a gift for startling juxtapositions: "Sleeplessness, you're like a pawnshop/Open late/ On a street of failing businesses." Homely images, in Simic's hands, take on an eerie combination of the marvelous and the absurd, "Father studied theology through the mail/ and this was exam time./Mother knitted. I sat quietly with a book/full of pictures. Night fell./ My hands grew cold touching the faces/ of dead kings and queens." There are few poets writing today whose sense of wonder is so palpable: "happiness, you are the bright red lining/of the dark winter coat/ grief wears inside out." Recommended for all collections.
-Christine Stenstrom, Shea and Gould Law Lib., New York
(Library Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (November 11, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156421828
• ISBN-13: 978-0156421829
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #625,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The devil's own snack food., April 29, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hotel Insomnia (Paperback)

Charles Simic, Hotel Insomnia (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992)

If I ever meet Charles Simic, I am likely to ask that one question every author really hates: "Where do you get your ideas?"

It's not that the overarching, grand design of Simic's work is incomprehensible or anything. In fact, in Hotel Insomnia, if anything, it's more noticeable than ever; for once, the book's title really does tie into almost everything in the book. Insomnia is a major theme in these poems, and it runs throughout like a bad infomercial on late-night TV in the background, bleary-eyed, beer in hand, in its boxer shorts, and yet strangely appealing.

No, it's not that. It's in the details, those damnable little snippets of poetry that make Charles Simic's poems little gems of wide-eyed brilliance:

"There's a painting over the cash register:
Of a stiff Quaker couple dressed in black.
They hold a cat under each arm.
One is a tiger, the other is Siamese.
The eyes are closed because it's very late,
And because cats see better with their eyes closed."
(--"Caged Fortuneteller")

This is a guy who knows something about you. No matter who you are. And in every book he releases, he will reveal a little of it, until you're paranoid, hiding in a darkened room, peeking out of the blinds, unable to sleep, just waiting for Charles Simic to come knocking on your door, because you're convinced he's coming for you.

And isn't that what it's all about? **** ½

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He is a wonderful Poet, October 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hotel Insomnia (Paperback)

I first read poetry of Charles Simic in the New Yorker. He is a great poet and evokes moods with very well-turned phrases and perfectly chosen words. I loved this book and admire this poet to an extent that cannot be put into words.