Dan's Reviews > The Carrying
The Carrying
by
by
The Carrying by Ada Limón won the 2018 National Critics Choice Award for Best Book of Poetry.
I enjoyed this set of poems immensely. Limon’s free verse style is simple and tethered to our common experiences. Whether it’s a poem about driving across America, watching horses run across pastures, watching goldfinches flutter from one fence post to another, playing ‘would you rather’ with friends, harboring secrets, staring into future’s abyss, struggles with depression, these are all things a reader instantly recognizes.
The Dead Boy was an especially powerful poem for me. The narrator becomes mad at a boy, Griffin, after he dies from an overdose in their dorm at college. The selfish reaction of the narrator arises because of her attempts to revive him and of the painful memories of other friends and family members who have died, some also from drugs.
Her writing reminds me of the great poet Donald Hall, of whom I am a big fan.
5 stars.
I enjoyed this set of poems immensely. Limon’s free verse style is simple and tethered to our common experiences. Whether it’s a poem about driving across America, watching horses run across pastures, watching goldfinches flutter from one fence post to another, playing ‘would you rather’ with friends, harboring secrets, staring into future’s abyss, struggles with depression, these are all things a reader instantly recognizes.
The Dead Boy was an especially powerful poem for me. The narrator becomes mad at a boy, Griffin, after he dies from an overdose in their dorm at college. The selfish reaction of the narrator arises because of her attempts to revive him and of the painful memories of other friends and family members who have died, some also from drugs.
Her writing reminds me of the great poet Donald Hall, of whom I am a big fan.
5 stars.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Carrying.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
January 3, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 3, 2020
– Shelved
January 3, 2020
– Shelved as:
critics-circle-award-poetry
March 1, 2020
–
Started Reading
March 21, 2020
–
Finished Reading
January 14, 2022
– Shelved as:
5-star-poetry
February 26, 2023
– Shelved as:
5-star-overall