Customer Reviews

Void of Course (Poets, Penguin)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

jim carroll possesses a poetic of the wounded and lost which seems unrivalled to me today by any other modern poet. it's not, as some critics claim, that kids read his work because "he's the kid from the basketball diaries", or "he's done a lot of drugs".
the attraction of people, whatever age or place in life, to carroll's poems and music seems a sign of enlightenment to me: a man writes about the underbelly of society, which he spent most of his life exploring (and eventually becoming trapped within), and comes out at great cost to himself, with pearls. Carroll's "8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain" is a really moving piece, and if you have any knowledge of the subject you will feel something shift inside you while reading it, and a deep disappointment that it ends at all. ("The lyrics were strange/"Chalk Skin Bending"/"Incognito Libido"/But copying them down I realized/That they only fit into the barrel of a gun.")
Perhaps that should be the final word on Cobain's death.
The last poem is also touching: Carroll talks of love betrayed and acknowledges his inevitable aloneness.

Read it.

This is sensational. I saw him do some stuff from this in New York a little while ago and went and bought this the next day from the lady with the stand at the corner of St.Mark's and Astor Pl.
The words here are just gold. For some reason it reminded me of Leonard Cohen's stuff, it has that air of 'it's always been there, I just said it best' about it.
'Jukebox' is a highlight, as are most of the pieces headed simply 'poem'...
Oh, just get it, it's not that expensive, and it's really worth it.

Jim Carroll is the last poet hero. VC is gritty & unrelenting in its pursuit of redemption. i make it a habit to highlight illuminating verses, i found myself highlighting most of this book.

Void Of Course is one of the best books I've ever read in my whole life! Jim Carroll proves once again that he's a genius. All the poems in this book prove that Jim Carroll is only getting better! It was definitely worth waiting for! The poems range from very short pieces ("What Burroughs told me") to long poems - such as "While she's gone" which is nine pages long, but doesn't appear that long. Jim Carroll is the unofficial king of the poetry scene.

This book of poetry is a breath sucking, mind altering blink of metaphors that leaves the reader turning the page with no words to describe what just happened. The poems range from beautiful and sad to soft and lonely, to powerful and thought provoking...Jim has not lost his touch or his talent...

For me every poem has a different color. This book is a rainbow. Highlights: My Ruins, While she's gone and the poem on page 54. And that is just for this moment because, as live, the meaning of the poems change. When you read Valentine and you know it's origin, you will think the same as me: give Jim Carroll a groserie list and he will turn it into a poem. He has the ability to see poetry in every aspect of live.

I think this book shows a growing, a progress, in both Jim Carroll's depth and his vision...he's no longer the 15-year-old street kid he was in The Basketball Diaries, and this book proves it. He still may not be completely at peace w/his past, but he has gone on, at least to a point. The ever-beatiful "8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain" strummed a string in my heart-he went through addition and all and survivied, but K.Cobain didn't. Also, the last poem, "My Ruins" on Pools of Mercury, is amazing...it sums it up!!! "While She's Gone", the longest poem in the book, tells powerfully the pains and anxieties of a parted lover, but the shorter poems are jewels on equal terms. He's taken a turn from TBD, and it's incredible!!! Get the book, read it, love it, and you'll be rewarded w/infinite wisdom!!!

I loved this book. Insightful, funny and real....especially "Message left on an Answering Machine"

Jim Carroll continues to inspire with his magical touch. The words become flesh and the characters speak out of the page. He is an inspiration to youth in pain - because you know he made it - you want to make it too! Few poets of the nineties are as in touch as this man. I always carry one of his books in my bag.

This is by far the best work that Carroll has turned out yet. My favorite book, I've read it probably close to a thousand times. The poem While She's Gone is something we can all relate to in one way or another. Although his previous works were nothing less than masterful, Void of Course, shows how much Carroll's writing has matured over the course of his life. His poems have taken on a more structured technique and truly reflect his inner emotions in a way that makes it hard not to love and respect this remarkable man. I'm sure we all look forward to reading what he has to say next.