Customer Reviews

Sort of Gone

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There is a trend these days to publishing short fiction collections which collectively tell a novelistic story, but Sort of Gone is one of those rare poetry collections which achieves the depth and scope of a novel. In these poems, Sarah Freligh creates an entire world of characters and employs multiple points of view to tell the story of the rise and fall of a baseball player. The stories told in the poems generate enough tension and suspense to qualify this collection as a "page turner" -- you will read it quickly to see what happens to Al, and then you will read it again to see how Freligh pulled this off. I'm not a baseball fan and yet I still could not put this book down. Brava, Ms. Freligh!

I'm not a baseball fan. In fact, I'm not a sports fan at all, but I am a huge fan of SORT OF GONE. I'm sure if you're a baseball lover you'll pick up on nuances that I missed, but even without a love of of the game, this book hits home (pardon the pun).

The story of Al Stepansky is relevant to anyone who's pushed hard for a big dream, who's been let down by their family, or even worse, let down by themselves. All together, the poems tell an amazing story, but every one stands on its own as well.

The characters are vivid and feel like people you know -- people you see in every day life, people you've heard stories about -- and the imagery and rhythm and color in these poems is stunning. Sarah Freligh has done an amazing job in finding the humor in every day life, in human nature, and even in the dark spots.

If you haven't read this book yet, you're missing out.

Sarah Freligh's poetry collection, `Sort of Gone' is as subversive as it is sublime. To say it takes such American icons as Baseball and the 50s American family and turns them on their ear is understatement. She explodes them, and the shrapnel tears the reader apart. It is worth the ordeal to experience the complex lives of these fascinating characters. To Al Stepansky, baseball is salvation. It is an escape both figurative and literally from his sad and abusive household. Playing baseball gives him lofty goals to pursue, then the fame he thought he craved and toward the end of life, his only moments of true happiness. The poetics of baseball is not sort often seen on film and heard from orgasmic sportscasters. Baseball for Al and his father is order in a world that is often cruel and crushing. It is a connection between a parent and child in a fractured relationship. Sarah makes the reader understand how fans and players can lose themselves in the intricacies and rhythm of the game. Even if the reader has never watched a baseball game, the importance of the sport to its fans is easy to see and understand. Sarah accomplishes this with sparest use of words. Her economy and fluidity in driving her love of the game and her keen insight into family, sex, aspiration and disappointment home would be the envy of Al Steapnsky and perhaps to Mickey Mantle himself.

I enjoyed this book, in a painful way: painful because the poems are about might-have-beens, could-have-beens, people who did not achieve their goals or dreams. The stories are acute, real. A worthwhile read, especially for baseball fans.

Sarah Freligh is a keen observer of both life and baseball, and she weaves words together in ways that clarify both. This is a beautifully written book, one that would do James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway proud. If you enjoy literature, read this.

There seems to be a trend now in writing baseball poems. This is another good collection. It's fun.

This is some of the best poetry I have ever read. It reads like a novel. I couldn't put it down.

You will want to memorize these poems and say them out loud. They are too good not to.