The Island of Lost Luggage (First Book Award Series) [Paperback]

Janet McAdams (Author)

Book Description

Series: First Book Award Series | Publication Date: July 1, 2000

". . . at the Island of Lost Luggage, they line up:
the disappeared, the lost children, the Earharts
of modern life. It's your bad luck to die in the cold
wars of certain nations. But in the line at Unclaimed
Baggage, no one mourns for the sorry world
that sent them here . . ."

The abused. The oppressed. The terrified victims of institutionalized insanity. Making daring connections between the personal and the political, Janet McAdams draws new lines in the conflict between the new and old worlds as she redefines the struggle to remain human.

This award-winning collection of poetry forges surprising links among seemingly unrelated forms of violence and resistance in today's world: war in Central America, abuses against Nature, the battleground of the bedroom. McAdams evokes the absurdity of everyday existence as she sends out a new call for social responsibility.

The Island of Lost Luggage is the poetry winner of the 1999 First Book Awards competition of the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award "She has a keen, tart mind and a huge inquisitiveness, which, given her sympathy for victims of America's injustice, have led her to witness or to assist at one revolutionary protest after another. She approaches each event wide-eyed, a born observer." —Poetry "Those who might consign the book unread to the 'Native American' literary ghetto will miss work to which those who attempt to keep up with developments in contemporary poetry ought to pay attention." —World Literature Today "A volume full of truncated plots; beautiful and troubling images . . . meditations on resistance and complicity." —Women's Review of Books "Achingly beautiful, these poems champion the abused, the oppressed." —North American Review

About the Author

Janet McAdams's poems have appeared in Poetry, North American Review, TriQuarterly, and other publications. A writer of Alabama Creek ancestry, she is a recipient of writer's fellowships from the Alabama and Georgia state arts councils and is currently Assistant Professor of English, Native American Studies, and Women's Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 75 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816520569
• ISBN-13: 978-0816520565
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Passionate First Collection, September 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Island of Lost Luggage (First Book Award Series) (Paperback)

The passion and urgency of these poems never undermines the poet's fine lyric voice. So many first books of poetry seem to have a dozen or so good poems with a lot of filler in between, but this collection is consistently excellent. Every poem is finely wrought and this poet's range is impressive. The poems about Central America are particularly moving, but I also really loved the "sci-fi" section --it reminded me of Lessing's Four-Gated City.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Island of the Human Heart, September 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Island of Lost Luggage (First Book Award Series) (Paperback)

There's a wealth of subject matter here; one moment we're experiencing turmoil in Central America, the next sharing a treasured memory of childhood. But whether she's showing us an east Texas cemetery or the world after apocalypse, McAdams never loses sight of Faulkner's human heart in conflict with itself, and neither will the reader.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Deserved The American Book Award, and More, May 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Island of Lost Luggage (First Book Award Series) (Paperback)

I used to write poetry, even studied with some of the greats, including C.K. Williams, Ellen Voight and Louise Gluck. But I found that in any workshop, I could rarely tell a great poem from a mediocre one. This made me feel less than smart about poetry. Janet McAdams has helped revive my love for the form, and my sense of poetic savvy. For with "Island of Lost Luggage" I Know I'm in the presence of Great poetry. That is clear from page one. How to say why this is Great isn't as easy, but I'll venture the following: Mc Adams is gifted with rich language, of course, but she is a more than a fine wordsmith. She takes on issues that have huge resonance, that go beyond any mere narcissim. Each time I enter one of her poetic worlds I find more layers within it, more associations building within me. So, Thanks Ms. McAdams for restoring my poetic sensitivity, and for this wonderful book, a gem, that's most highly recommended for all readers, lovers of poetry or not.