Take Heart [Paperback]

Molly Peacock (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In blunt, unadorned language that could almost be prose, Peacock describes events not often the province of poetry: repeated abuse by an alcoholic father, for instance, or the aftermath of an abortion. Though struggling throughout to "surrender to the fact that I am," Peacock is in no mood for reconciliation with the world at large, a place "dry, shoddy/ and expensive below the sky, expansive" where "I am busy dividing: cut, cut." Undeniably powerful, her poems are yet not wholly satisfying because her very evident anger is not effectively integrated into a larger vision. As a result, her work can seem fragmented, built of tart but almost too-easy aphorism and experiences so white-hot in their immediacy that they cannot quite be seen. Still, though her work is not for everyone, the author of Raw Heaven ( LJ 1/85) is one of the more influential poets at work today.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 71 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st edition (April 23, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679721967
• ISBN-13: 978-0679721963
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take Heart, October 7, 2007

By 

Kerry Caparco "Liberal Librarian" (rhode island) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Take Heart (Paperback)

For every alcoholic family, or anyone wanting to know what it is like to grow up in one, Peacock clearly defines the shame, guilt, terror, uncertainty, manipulation, oppression, emptiness, denial, hurt and fear she has experienced. Take Heart chronicles her years from childhood into early adulthood. Peacock endures abuse, death, ridicule, abortion, and abandonment - but she asks no pity, makes no excuses; and yet the reader longs to reach into the pages, reach back into time and whisk that little girl away from all the ugly sorrow that surrounds her. Pick her up, hug her; give her hope, love her. Save her? She must continue on her journey to becoming real, just as the Velveteen Rabbit did - all shabby, and the pink rubbed off his nose. Someone will love you, and you will become real. Your cavernous heart will be filled, and not with the hard minerals of rock, but with the soft flesh of a ripe tomato. Fragile! It must be handled with care, for to bruise it too much will cause it to rot.