Whirlwind (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822962212)

Whirlwind is one woman's frank, witty, mordant, sexy look at the breakup of a marriage and its emotional aftermath. With her characteristic linguistic play and mixture of poetic registers and styles, Sharon Dolin takes her readers on an off-the-tracks emotional ride through the whirlwind that goes by the name of divorce. Hang on tight. Here poems are never merely confessional, but use formal aplomb to ride the white-heat rage, hurt, denial, reflection, regret, wistfulness, desire, and sexual passion as they go hurtling through the many stages of grief after the death of a relationship and the rebirth of a more vital self. Dolin tackles difficult subjects unflinchingly in her poems: such as betrayal and the shame of the one being betrayed, being a parent within a volatile breakup, as well as some startling poems on the reawakening of sexuality and an attention to the natural world and politics. In her poem that won a Pushcart Prize, she dons the mask of the Furies to confront her ex-husband and his lover. A journalist of her own heart, Sharon Dolin has written a brazen collection that seethes with the pressure of a story to tell: cathartic and thrilling in equal measure.

Author: Sharon Dolin
ISBN-10: 0822962217
ISBN-13: 9780822962212
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Language: English
Published: 10/21/2012
Pages: 88
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.25lbs
Size: 7.90h x 6.00w x 0.30d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/20/2012 pg. 39