Underlife (New Voices) [Paperback]

January Gill O'Neil (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Voices | Publication Date: December 21, 2009

The dynamics of race, family, motherhood, career, sex and ultimately, transformation are explored in this debut collection. Underlife represents the wilderness of thought and emotion hidden away from the external world. Through O'Neil's narratives we see our lives as if for the first time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"O'Neil offers masterfully complex portraits of childhood--both through the speaker's memory and observations of her own children. She writes equally well about sex, marriage, rural life, and the suburbs with candid observations and evocative imagery. O'Neil's collection is substantial, playful, and compassionate--even when dealing with difficult themes such as alcoholism and racism. Her narrative threads take surprising and enigmatic leaps, yet are always clear, accessible, wonderfully real." (Denise Duhamel )

About the Author

JANUARY GILL O'NEIL'S poetry and articles have appeared in two Cave Canem anthologies, Crab Orchard Review, Literary Mama, Field, Callaloo, Seattle Review, among others. A fellow with Cave Canem poets, she also is cofounder of New and Emerging Writers, a literary series in Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Cavankerry (December 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933880163
• ISBN-13: 978-1933880167
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

January Gill O'Neil is the author of Underlife (CavanKerry Press, December 2009). Her poems and articles have appeared in North American Review, The MOM Egg, Crab Creek Review, Ouroboros Review, Drunken Boat, Crab Orchard Review, Callaloo, Literary Mama, Field, Seattle Review, and Cave Canem anthologies II and IV, among others. Underlife was a finalist for ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award, and the 2010 Paterson Poetry Prize. In December 2009, January was awarded a Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant. She was featured in Poets & Writers magazine's January/February 2010 Inspiration issue as one of its 12 debut poets. Most recently, she was added to the advisory board/planning committee for the 2011 Massachusetts Poetry Festival. A Cave Canem fellow, January is a senior writer/editor at Babson College, runs a popular blog called Poet Mom (http://poetmom.blogspot.com), and lives with her two children in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Debut Collection that should be on your Poetry Bookshelf!, November 18, 2010

By 

Kelli (Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Underlife (New Voices) (Paperback)

I am an editor at the literary journal, Crab Creek Review and this book was one of my choices for our Editors' Choice section (where we post our favorite books). This was one of my very favorite books of the year. January's voice and poems are engaging. She writes in a way that brings the reader and in a way that doesn't alienate. Her poems are lovely gems of life and once I started this book, I didn't put it down until I was finished.

Here's my "official" review I did for our magazine:

She is known in the blogworld as PoetMom [..], but January Gill O'Neil is more than just your average blogger, she is the author of the incredible debut collection, Underlife. While the poems in Underlife explore the complexity of daily life, family, and work, they do not sidestep from tougher subjects such as addiction, race, and sex. O'Neil's work is both playful and poignant, narrative and lyrical and her work is a mindful treat for the reader from the first to last page. Highly recommended.

~

Yes, I definitely recommend this book. This is a poet we will be hearing a lot more from.

4.0 out of 5 stars A vital and necessary voice, June 7, 2011

By 

dylanissimus "dylanissimus" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Underlife (New Voices) (Paperback)

From the mischievously vivid to the maternally tender, January Gill O'Neil's poems are a vital and necessary contribution to contemporary literature. There are few poets writing today who have Ms. O'Neil's range, her wit, her almost painterly attention to detail. From the tenderness of "Tangerines," to the raucous sexiness of "What Mommy Wants," to the startling realism of "Discipline," there are poems in UNDERLIFE which deserve inclusion in any anthology that would attempt to encompass the important poems of our day. There is autobiography, there is family history, there is food and drink. Few poets can veer from a bawdy sense of humor ("Poem about Nuts") to solemn and lethal seriousness with as much dexterity -- and as much grace! -- as January Gill O'Neil. A very fine book with many stellar poems. Highly recommended.