Daphne's Lot (Paperback)

~ Chris Abani (Author) "I know nothing of truth..." (more)
Key Phrases: Father Frayne, Mission Hill, Sao Tome

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . what happens when moral boundaries are obliterated and the sacredness of life becomes a kind of cynical joke. -- Ronald Gottesman, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California

Daphne’s Lot is an absolute tour de force! -- David St. John

With the language of hard truth lifted by singing Abani speaks what is impossible to speak. -- Joy Harjo, Mvskoke poet and musician

Product Description

The masterful wedding of the narrative and the lyric in these poems (whose subject is the maturation of a sensibility, the coming-of-age of a young Englishwoman — the power of her ties to family, husband and her "adopted" country, Nigeria — as well as the illumination of her own soul and that of the narrator’s) fills the reader with both sorrow and wonder. It is an instructive tale for our age — its vision of the individual will and imagination resisting the madness of politics and the destruction of war is singular and profound. (Description by Carol Muske-Dukes)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Red Hen Press (March 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888996625
• ISBN-13: 978-1888996623
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,055,142 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fragile Beauty, April 4, 2003

By	Obi (Eu Claire, Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a rare gem of a book; beautiful in all the right ways, and yet risky in the way literature should be. The language in the first part of the book is lush, beautiful and constantly inventive. This contrasts nicely with the second part which is made up of short, sparse poems that manage to pull you comepletely into the moment. Everything in this book seems carefully balanced and it gives you the impression that is only the skill of the poet that keeps it from spinning off into darkness. I have never read a book about war that was able to make it so real, and human and present while not mentioning any real specifics. A book that tells you that no matter how dark the soul is, there is a fragile beauty that keeps us going and that that fragile beauty is the our humanity, our compassion.

I was not much of a poetry reader, but this book has turned me onto poetry and made me look at other poets. This book will break your heart, make you laugh and sing and be glad you are human. It is easily the best book of poetry I have read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Simple Complexity, April 6, 2003

By A Customer

The language of this book astounded me. Never before have I seen a writer use simple, easily accessible language to carry the weight of such beauty and melancholy. The subject matter is one of a family epic, of war, of grace, of sorrow and of a joy for life hard to describe.

There is everything in this book to break your heart, but the thing is, the langauge and style will have you turning page after page as it does so.

Wonderful!

4.0 out of 5 stars Daphne's Lot, June 29, 2009

By	Elizabeth M. Beagle - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some writing throughout the book.

Name written in pen on the first page.

Otherwise in good condition.