The Collected Prose

Rating:
Summary: The Collected Prose
Review: As in all of the writings by Elizabeth Bishop, The Collected Prose allows the reader to open the door into her masterfully brilliant and private world of thoughts. I took this book to the beach each night before the sun went down and read one or two of her poems ... Bishop's ability to connect our everyday actions with a deeper, higher meaning makes this book one of my all time favorites. She is truly a wonderful creator and writer!

Rating:
Summary: The Collected Prose
Review: As in all of the writings by Elizabeth Bishop, The Collected Prose allows the reader to open the door into her masterfully brilliant and private world of thoughts. I took this book to the beach each night before the sun went down and read one or two of her poems ... Bishop's ability to connect our everyday actions with a deeper, higher meaning makes this book one of my all time favorites. She is truly a wonderful creator and writer!

Rating:
Summary: A delicate collection.
Review: I hope that I will be forgiven for saying that as much as I enjoyed this volume of Bishop's prose, I still don't find it as robust as her poetry. While lovely, some of these entries were so slight I was afraid to breath and break them.

The book is divided into two halves-- a series of memories and a series of stories. I liked the memories section the best: particularly "The Country Mouse" and her memoir of Marianne Moore. Of the stories, I liked "Gwendolyn" the best-- a story about a dying little girl (which is not nearly as saccharine as it sounds from that description.)

I enjoyed this book, I *think* I enjoyed it in its own right. But if I'm honest, I'm not sure how I would have felt about it had I not already loved Bishop's poems so much.

Rating:
Summary: A delicate collection.
Review: I hope that I will be forgiven for saying that as much as I enjoyed this volume of Bishop's prose, I still don't find it as robust as her poetry. While lovely, some of these entries were so slight I was afraid to breath and break them.

The book is divided into two halves-- a series of memories and a series of stories. I liked the memories section the best: particularly "The Country Mouse" and her memoir of Marianne Moore. Of the stories, I liked "Gwendolyn" the best-- a story about a dying little girl (which is not nearly as saccharine as it sounds from that description.)

I enjoyed this book, I *think* I enjoyed it in its own right. But if I'm honest, I'm not sure how I would have felt about it had I not already loved Bishop's poems so much.