Oracles: A Pilgrimage (Paperback)

by Catherynne, M. Valente (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Nam Sibyllam quidem cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere...

The Oracles of the ancient world spoke for the gods, they spoke for the future: but they could not speak for themselves. Here, their voices bubble up from the depths, enraged and sardonic, sorrowing and wild, finding themselves on new ground—scattered across the American continent, marking a path for the seeker to follow, from New England universities to Hawaiian volcanoes, from dilapidated factories to Chinatown kitchens, from the Old East to the New West...

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Prime (May 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809500450
• ISBN-13: 978-0809500451
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,072,327 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly Beautiful, July 26, 2005

By	L. Darcy "dedicated bibliophile" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I took this slim volume of poetry with me to the hospital earlier this week. Once I realised that the Toradol and morphine injections weren't making me horribly loopy, I picked it up to help pass the time. I devoured "Oracles: A Pilgrimage" in a single sitting. Ms. Valente's use of language ... it's like dancing with words. Of course, when the Oracle leads, we might waltz, tango, do a bit of dirty dancing, or stage dive into a mosh pit. There's really no telling where she's going to take me, and I love it. We travelled all over the country together, the Oracle and I. We sat at tables low and high sampling many different sorts of pie - some bitter, some sweet, and some that utterly befuddled and bewitched my senses. I cannot recommend this fascinating book of intoxicating poetry highly enough.

And no, hard drugs are not required for enjoyment of "Oracles".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous., February 6, 2006

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Catherynne M. Valente, Oracles: A Pilgrimage (Prime, 2005)

There is a new generation of rising young literary stars who have embraced a classical approach to writing. Catherynne M. Valente is one of those at the forefront. A select few are aware of her gorgeous, fantastic novels; far fewer have discovered her wonderful poetry. This is a shame, and I will here do what I can to remedy the situation.

While Valente's prose style can, perhaps, best be called Corinthian, her poetry is an oddly stripped-down animal; going from a novel to a poem in Valente's world is like trading a Rolls with all the bells and whistles for a souped-up '68 Shelby. The ride may be a little bumpier, but you're still getting to your destination in unheard-of style:

"Instinctively,
she'll know to pull out the liver,
fat as a brown-bellied river eel,
and press her fingertip
into the pink blemish
staining the regiones dirae
like a mud-trapped starfish."
(--"The Oracle at Amarillo")

Subtle, spicy, painted in some color that would only look right on a muscle car, but when it passes beneath the trees, whole new chromatic worlds open up.

The book does flag a time or two (well, okay, only once), trading in Valente's fantastic mastery of image for a message poem that sacrifices image for sociopolitical screed that, like almost all sociopolitical screed masquerading as poetry, goes nowhere, but in a book of this quality, one slip is easily forgiven; it's certainly not a reason not to go seeking this out and picking it up at your earliest convenience. *** ½

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing Sibyls with urban charms, July 14, 2005

By	Raven (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

"Oracles: A Pilgrimage" is delicious. Bewitching. Intoxicating. There's a beautiful balance struck between the blazingly Apollonian and the chthonic Pythian, the vapors of the cave and the charring, blazing inspiration of the oracles. Set in a series of poetic vignettes in different cities, the book presents images of the Sibyl as framed in each city, from Seattle to Miami, southern California to the wilds of New England. I particularly appreciated the author's deft touch on the maddening, clarifying influence of such personal attention from a deity, and the psychological effects it can have on one, painted more often evocatively than explicitly. Fans of modern mythology and urban enchantment should certainly pick this one up... you lovers of de Lint and Gaiman and poetry, give Catherynne Valente a try. It's a relatively short book, with more of a focus on the poetic thread than on an epic, well-spelled-out story-arc -- think of it as leaves from manuscripts rather than as a full-length fiction novel. Scant hours after the book had left my hands, I pressed it on another friend to borrow, so pleased with it was I.