Customer Reviews

Dark Summer (The Miami University Press Poetry Series)

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Dark Summer is a wonderful book of poems; on the surface, the poems shimmer with elegance and luminous language that's almost seamless in its beauty. Beneath the surface lurks a more complicated tone, often tongue in cheek, almost savage. There is much more to Bendall's poems than initially meets the eye, like much good poetry, they reveal themselves slowly, and will reward the patient, careful reader.

Molly Bendall's Dark Summer is a collection of poetry that explores the many facets of relationships. She delves into the every type of relationship one may experience, from casual sex, to serious affairs, to relationships that end with murder. Bendall investigates the erotic and yet withdrawn feeling many women experience when involved with a lover. Because her poems cover such a wide range of emotions and difficulties, she is able to capture the wonder and admiration of a large and diverse audience. Although Bendall's poems appeal to a wide variety and successfully capture the complicated emotions experienced throughout many different relationships, her syntax can be confusing at times. As many of her contemporaries do, she uses abnormal punctuation that may leave the reader somewhat baffled upon the first reading. Sometimes her phrases and arrangement of words are difficult to comprehend and can detract from the poem's quality. For the most part, Molly Bendall has created a work of art and achieved a difficult task. By exploring the most intimate corners of love and relationships, she is able to effectively convey the diverse and complicated feelings one often experiences but cannot describe. This book is a great one to own if you enjoy contemporary poetry.

Molly Bendall is brave and daring in her exploration of the sexual world from a female's point of view. She uses vivid, descriptive language that draws the reader in to her poetry. Her poetry reads like a story of a woman who has been through tough times and difficult relationships that many people in this world can relate to. Because her poetry is about the reality of women experiencing love and sex, it appeals to both men and women. Men can refer to the poetry to get a clue about the way that women's emotions operate, and women can use it to help define the feelings they experience. On the negative side, Molly Bendall, as many contemporary poets do, tends to overuse the free-style type of writing that is so popular with writers these days. The way she arranges her words and the lack of punctuation at times confuses the writer on the intentions of her writing. She uses strong words that could be offensive to some; however, they convey the strong feelings that the narrator or the author are experiencing. Overall, Molly Bendall has written a good book of poetry. There are many keys in this book for people to use to open the doors of their minds and hearts and explore their true emotions.

Molly Bendall chose the title of her book to be "Dark Summer" because the focus of the book is darkness. The poetry that Bendall writes is full of vivid imagery that allows the reader to visualize the scenes unfolding. However, the readers will probably wish they had never pictured these circumstances. The scenes that are taking place are centered on the immoral and pessimistic sides of life. Bendall spends the majority of her poems talking about love affairs gone a wry. Sex is a casual occurrence in the relationships of this book. Marriage is never considered sacred, and there are no examples of abstinence until marriage taking place. That explains why the outcomes of the poems are usually sad and devoid of encouragement. This book takes you on a trip through the eyes of women who have engaged only in life's sensual pleasures. The ride itself is nicely simulated; however, when it comes to the end of the track it becomes obvious that these immoral lifestyles are nothing to envy. Bendall depicts women who strive after fleshly treasures and the outcome is their twisted and corrupted lives. Bendall puts together a luscious poetic language that entices the reader, but the meaning behind her language leaves little for the reader to learn or grow from. The reader is better off leaving this poetry book in the dark.

I purchased this "book" because an acquaintance assured me that it contained poetry, that most noble genre of literary expression. My acquaintance lied--and I have since caned him for taking advantage of my misplaced trust. This work (for Miss Bendall certainly labored in the creation of this unsightly child) is little more than a concatenation of disharmonious sounds and half-baked thoughts. Make no mistake, the work is not without passion--Miss Bendall is, if nothing else, an enthusiastic writer. Sadly, however, these writings (which she calls "poems" but which most literati would label "curiosities") fail to incite any emotional reactions among her readers other than bewilderment, frustration, and (for those who peer too deeply into the void) utter despair. Determined to purge my soul (and my bookshelf) of these vacuous scribblings, I listed the item on Ebay under the category "Books." In doing so, I sincerely hope that I have not committed a disingenuous act. I would bring to my reader's attention the most common definition of the word "book", which is nothing more than "a set of pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers." Certainly, "Dark Summer" meets these criteria. But what if a bonafide bibliophile--one who ascribes to the definition of a book as "a source of knowledge or understanding"--should win my auction? Knowing full well that this collection of literary oddities lacks even a single penetrating thought, could I exchange this homely volume for filthy lucre and retain my clear conscience? Perhaps my worries are for naught. With only two days remaining on the auction, not one of my three bidders has yet to meet my reserve of seventy-five cents.

Book Review on Molly Bendall's Dark Summer

The poems in Molly Bendall's book Dark Summer deal primarily with the sexual experience. She seems to be infatuated with the topic referring to it in one way or another in just about every poem. Her constant references to sex leads the reader to suspect that she is speaking largely from personal experiences and frustrations with it Despite this overbearing emphasis on the sexual nature of humanity other value can be taken from the book. The poems describe relationships. In so doing, the reader can gain insight into the characters of the poems, and hence themselves. By looking past the sexual emphasis much can be learned from relationships in general. Bendall's poems often illustrate the dichotomy of existing and broken relationships. She describes the benefits that everyone desires yet their sad, oppressive, and fragile side as well. Overall, the book is an interesting read. Unlike many modern contemporary poems, most of Bendall's poems have a story line that the reader can decipher. The typical reader can relate in one way or another to many of her poems in the themes that they express.

Molly Bendall does an excellent job in this book of poetry of enticing the reader and drawing them into her stories. Very understandable and easy to picture, the poems provide an entertaining read for any person. The words and lines flow smoothly, creating enjoyable tales. Open to interpretation, the poems in Dark Summer allow imagination and new ideas to be explored and considered. An excellent book of poetry, although at times sexually explicit, this is a book to be considered for any lover of poetry.

What do most young men and women expect from the summer? They want beaches, no school, cold beer, and hot nights. Also, they expect a steamy summer love. You know, one of those relationships where two curious youths spend their days rolling in the sand, and the night rolling in each other's arms. The typical summer love is purely a physical experiment into newly discovered body parts and emotions. Once the summer draws to a close, the two young lovers move away from each other, only after one more sunset tryst by the water. They spend the next couple months dreaming of each other and the time they spent in the summer, but with little emotional attachment to each other. As many victims of summer romances realize, these relationships are not so easy to break away from. Young hearts are fragile and can shatter when they are forced to separate from their first love simply because the leaves change. In her book Dark Summer, Molly Bendall examines these relationships with a series of poems. Through her poetry, she describes how the heat and passion of summer can create serious emotional ties within young lovers. These are ties that are not as easy to let go of as some may expect. For anyone interested in exploring this side of love, I highly suggest Molly Bendall's Dark Summer.