An often affecting book of poems about modern romance.
Relationships are a source of bitterness and occasional bliss in this collection of confessional verse.
In these 82 short poems, Daryl-Jarod addresses the failings and betrayals of his gay speakers’ boyfriends and hookups, as well as their own inner demons, in direct, plainspoken language and imagery. For example, “What About Me” memorializes a selfish lover who “only touches me when he needs release” while “All my needs appear to be obsolete”; “Fuck Boys” deplores one-night stands who “Beg for my body with no intention / Of loving my mind”; and “Hate” excoriates an irresponsible partner: “Who else but YOU would toss away the glove / And attempt to infect me with poison?” Daryl-Jarod addresses neediness in “Damn This Loneliness” (“Double texted you after no response /…Cursed myself for every attempt to feel wanted”) and waxes cynical in “The Truth About Love.” But his speaker feels the pull of exuberant carnality in “The Love Below” (“As your love below expands / …Both of us panting and weeping / Pushing our bodies to insanity / …Those three words / Rest on the tip of our tongues”) and narcotic highs in “Another Hit.” Overall, Daryl-Jarod’s poetry effectively conveys a wide range of emotions, from desolation to tenderness to ebullience. The tension between longing and disappointment prompts a declaration of independence in “Like You Never Existed” and the healthy narcissism of “The Beauty of Self-Love” (“Find yourself a partner / Who appreciates the same beauty / You see when you gaze in the mirror”). The poet also mines the oppression of “being called sissy and faggot” in “I Wonder” and offers a truly ringing cry of solidarity in “A Love Letter 4 U” (“It doesn’t matter if we identify as / GAY or LESBIAN / TRANS or NONBINARY / Our unity makes us stronger than ever”). Readers may find that the poems in this collection sometimes come off as self-involved, which make the set as a whole feel uneven. Overall, though, the poems evoke the rush and anxiety of love in a relatable style that’s sure to resonate with many readers.
An often affecting book of poems about modern romance.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-945748-13-4
Page Count: 129
Publisher: Daryl-Jarod Entertainment
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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