Customer Reviews

The World Is Round

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In her new book of poetry and prose, The World is Round, Nikky Finney glimpses into the human ventures of birth, death, family, work, murder, sexuality, and worth. Each entry sheds a progressively brighter light on the book's overarching theme: the propensity of the universe to replace itself in continuous cycles. As we sadly read in "My Old Kentucky Home," a poem about a black teenager's death by gang violence and his disengaged mourners, some of these cycles have self-destructive qualities. Another entry, Hurricane Beulah, considers familial cycles in the form of short story. We watch the author sit patiently in a Salvation Army store as her aging Grandmother Beulah wanders down every aisle. We're in the same room as the poet when her grandmother passes, and we understand their relationship. In the poem "Mean Nina," recompense is presented as the cycle of justice, as Finney lies to a vegetating aunt, telling her that evil will not go unpunished. The World is Round is a celebration of the many facets of humanity. It is unique because it enlarges everyday occurrences and casts them onto the larger canvas of life.

Nikky Finney's poetry truly steps beyond the boundaries of vivid imagery. In her words she is able to capture the truest emotions of human nature while making it seem that you are right beside her experiencing her words first hand. 'The World is Round' is a great look into life's most important questions. She expresses thoughts on family in "The New Medicine" and, "Hurricane Beulah" and the relationship between present day African Americans and their ancestors in "Shark Bite" and "The New Cotton". She goes on to write about love and sexuality in "Sex" and "The Turtle Suite Poems", and the struggle and duty of the poet in "The Girlfriend's Train" and "The Making of Paper". From beginning to end the reader is certain to stay engaged. Nikky Finney is truly a most talented and most inspiring writer.

Nikky Finney's The World is Round deserves some literary distinction in the African-American poetry genre. Although her book has some confusion in some of its themes, it manages to set itself on an excellent course with such works ad Coda and Mean Nina. With such lines as "I am the only one awake to see the end/ For twenty years something or someone will come and lift me to the ceiling and back whenever it wishes/ I will come to know this as brown girl levitation", in Coda, Finney is easily able to cause her readers to levitate out of their settings and into her poem, due to her vivid description of the closeness of herself to her family and how they are all interconnected. We feel connected with her, as if she weren't speaking of their bodies being so close to hers on that small bed, but ours. Mean Nina, the poetic story of how a person's mean personality can forever evaporate when they become in a much more weakened and somewhat docile state, is also telling the story of the power and influence one person can have over others and how that inner power (as women) can be used for the greater good, or in Nina's case, the greater evil.
The work that gave the most satisfaction to me to read in this collection was the short story entitled, Hurricane Beulah. Inspired by the memory of her grandmother, Finney is able to use descriptive language and realism to bring her readers along with her on a trip to the second-hand store and also give us visual images of her grandmother moving like a shark through the aisles, searching for her prey, found in a dress that is slightly worn at the hems, probably discarded in a flighty huff by its previous owner. Finney is able to give us these images and we are able to make them our own, even transporting our own family into her words and causing them to radiate new meaning and also, new life. This is the adventure that Columbus took when he said "The world is round" and Finney takes us on just as similar a journey, where we discover that the world is round indeed.

I just discovered Nikky Finney in the early part of 2005. I read Rice -- which is also incredible -- and now The World is Round. I think they are both some of the best books of poetry I've ever read. They are rich with deep thoughts, insights, verbal beauty, humor. There are so many really great poems in this book ... but I'll pick one piece to mention: "Hurricane Bea". When I feel down or isolated, I read "Hurricane Bea" to make me feel connected to humanity again. That piece has so much richness to it. It's like a beautiful prayer and a love poem rolled into one.

I re-read Finney's books all the time. I was raised in the middle of Canada and the Northeastern part of the U.S. Her poems have given me another look at the South. She's given me a view of herself, her family, and others that I will carry with me always.

If you are not already a lover of poetry you will be after reading The World is Round, Nikky Finney's latest contribution to the literary world. Her collection of poetry and prose Finney reintroduces the reader to her world created with images that captivate the readers mind and heart and render them unable to stop turning pages until the entire book is gobbled up in one sitting, leaving the reader full but still wanting more. Never have I encountered a writer with such an ability to embrace all of the reader's five senses with such an unassuming and melodious manner. With her words, Finney takes the reader on a journey on which she intimately sketches out life's details and comes to the conclusion that everything in the world is connected and the world is in fact round.
In The World is Round Finney gives the reader those moments in life that should have been cherished but that many of us take for granted. Some of the most poignant poems are those in which she talks about her childhood and love for her family in "The New Medicine" she writes of how she goes home not to see her family but to touch them:
I am left a mere daughter
driving on sheer blacktop desire
to put my hands on them again.

That night I slump,
in a mother-daughter nest of repose,
repossessed once again
on her loud flowery couch.

My long fingers, delirious, spread,
lost in between her bare brown feet
that underneath are sleeping jellyfish,
on top squirming fiddler crabs.
Finney is a master of exploring both the sweetness and bitterness of the world in a candidly. In her lyrical, entrancing way Finney also approaches difficult subjects like the objectification of Black women in an understated yet intense and honest manner. In her poem The Greatest Show on Earth Finney writes:
We don't have to be dead first
to be cut into manageable size,
one that fits their measuring rods
their medicine chests will not rest
until we are properly pried,
it has always been about
opening us up,
experimenting with Black women
but never dissecting their own desires.

Finney's poetry reads like the score to a beautiful film. She is a master of intensifying and subduing our emotions with every word, stanza and line break. Her work is a song worthy of being sung for generations to come.

In "The World is Round" Nikki Finney takes you to a place of universal understanding. Her poetry brings you to the emotional state that puts you in her shoes. Poems like Mean Nina and The New Medicine stir up feelings even the most novice readers and poets are sure to relate to. From cover to cover, her words dance on the pages creating images for us to see and feel.

The World is Round is a challenging book with a lot of heart. Nikky Finney is a poet with depth and insight and a style that forces the reader to pay attention to every line. Finney does an excellent job of keeping her pieces of poetry and prose unique as well as comprehensible. Each piece brings you closer to Finney and gives you insight on her ideas of love and feminism. I recommend this book to anyone who is a lover of poetry as well as literature.

The first time that Nikky Finney name was introduced to myself, I was instructed to attend her book signing of "The World is Round". After not attending I was required to read her book. Nonetheless after forcing myself to pick up the book and read it I was captivated by the flow of the book. I really enjoyed the first readings, however, my personal favorite was her prose of Mean Nina. Finney vividly sketched out the scenes of Nina, that I could visually see them. I feel somewhat ashamed that I was borrowed the book at first so I could do my assignment; I encourage all to purchase it.

Nikky Finney is awesome! I enjoyed reading this book of art. In a lot of ways I saw many similarities that coincide with my family. I enjoyed the characters throughout that came to life. One of my favorites was Hurricane Beulah, where she talks of her grandmother and the love that is so evident between them. I felt as though I was shopping at the thrift store along with them!
The world is round brought out emotions in me that were long buried, thanks for the ressurication!

I thought this particular collection of modern day poetry was well written. Nikky Finney's use of words had me feeling as though I connected with the the author. This book was very different from conventional poetry that I have read in the past. I personally recommend this book as an inspiration for anyone who has a true love for poetry.