Human Nature (Paperback)

by Alice Anderson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Beware, all who enter here. Anderson's remarkable first book, winner of the 1994 Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, is like an outcropping of hell-the reader is compelled by fascination and horror to keep reading. These are poems of paternal incest and complicity: the brother brought into the sister's room to watch her sexual activity with the father; the mother talking about it with the daughter as if "we're in this together"; the woman grown, betrayed, enraged, and convinced that "no man will ever adore me that way again." Dedicated to Sharon Olds, these poems bear her influence: the unflinching look at a difficult reality, the rich attention to physical detail, the rush of overwhelming experience, the aesthetic control. The book's last line-"It's the human's nature to survive, welcome to the living"-which also gives the book its grim and hopeful title, celebrates survival. Anderson's life force is implicit in the language throughout these poems, objective, exact, charged with an emotional force given only to those who have been to hell and returned to tell the tale.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
This first collection of poetry compulsively retells a tale of childhood incest. A father's continual rape of his daughter is juxtaposed against the daughter's childhood landscape, both interior and exterior. The result is a nursery horror story that moves from childhood into the inevitable violent relationships of adulthood. Anderson's depiction of incest is particularly disturbing owing to the abused daughter's complicity: "He'd rub the square of whiskers he left/unshaved for me against the soft skin of my cheek and I'd be sure I was/the good child, that I deserved to be his girl, his favorite." Other scenes include a brother's bloody childhood accident, preadolescent sex games, and attempts at conventional sex. By the end, Anderson's fixation on sordid detail verges on mannerism. Ultimately, we want to hear more about not the villain father but the elusive mother, "safe in her long white gown/with the dark brown patch shining through." Recommended for comprehensive collections.
Ellen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814706339
• ISBN-13: 978-0814706336
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,962,198 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware, all who enter here., July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Human Nature (Hardcover)

Beware, all who enter here. Anderson's remarkable first book, winner of the 1994 Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, is like an outcropping of Hell -- the reader is compelled by fascination and horror to keep reading. Dedicated to Sharon Olds, these poems bear her influence: the unflinching look at reality, the rich attention to physical detail, the rush of overwhelming experience, the aesthetic control. The book's last line -- "It's the human's nature to survive -- welcome to the living." -- which also gives the book its grim and hopeful title, celebrates survival. Anderson's life force is implicit in the language throughout these poems, objective, exact, charged with an emotional force given only to those who have been to hell and returned to tell the tale. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware, all who enter here., July 6, 1999

By A Customer

Beware, all who enter here. Anderson's remarkable first book, winner of the 1994 Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, is like an outcropping of Hell -- the reader is compelled by fascination and horror to keep reading. Dedicated to Sharon Olds, these poems bear her influence: the unflinching look at reality, the rich attention to physical detail, the rush of overwhelming experience, the aesthetic control. The book's last line -- "It's the human's nature to survive -- welcome to the living." -- which also gives the book its grim and hopeful title, celebrates survival. Anderson's life force is implicit in the language throughout these poems, objective, exact, charged with an emotional force given only to those who have been to hell and returned to tell the tale. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)