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Dana (24 KP) rated Tender Buttons in Books
Mar 23, 2018
This book of poetry is chaotic, at best. But that does not mean it is without meaning or cohesion. Through its chaos, the story emerges in little hints and connections that track and follow the speaker through their thought processes in each of the sections of the book: Objects, Food, and Rooms.
I don't normally enjoy modernist poetry much because I feel it tries too hard to be something it is not. It tries to solve problems it cannot, but I have enjoyed this book a lot. Instead of always trying to solve problems, it states how it is. The problems are still there, the chaos is still there, but there is still a sense of peace at what the world is. The speaker is an ordinary person doing ordinary things, thinking about a world that has gone to shit, and that is really relatable.
There is a lot of attention to color in this collection. In the first section, there was a focus on Red and Yellow. In the second, coal is a constant. The colors represent the changing times, the coal especially. Red, the color of blood and war. Yellow, the color of change, and illness. The war had become an illness that had spread across Europe and eventually, the world.
I love how the style is not really a poetic style. Instead it is written in a prose form, but not as a coherent story with a plot line. I appreciate how Stein is creating and experimenting with different styles of writing to try to convey what she wants to.
In the section Objects, there was a quote that I very much liked because I felt like it summed up how that section had been flowing, for me at least. "Book was there, it was there. Book was there. Stop it, stop it, it was a cleaner, a wet cleaner and it was not where it was wet, it was not high, it was directly placed back, not back again, back, it was returned, it was needless, it put a bank, a bank when, a bank care." (30) This quote is showing the chaos of the mind, the disruptions of how it thinks when trying to focus or process what is happening to it. This is how many people's thoughts may have seemed during and after the two World Wars, something Modernist literature and poetry often brings up.
"There is coagulation in cold and there is none in prudence. Something is preserved and the evening is long and the colder spring has sudden shadows in a sun." (40) I like this quotation from the second section, Food, because it acknowledges that even in a time of rebirth, there is still coldness and death. There are shadows in Spring because it is acknowledging the death that had to happen for the rebirth to occur. The "coagulation" can be a congregation of people when the times get tough. When it is "cold" people come together, but in times of prudence, or in times of happiness and peace, people do not feel the need to come together. There is a self-isolation that occurs in the good times.
"A sentence of vagueness that is violence is authority and a mission and stumbling and also certainly also a prison. Calmness, calm beside the plate and in way in. There is no turn in terror. There is no volume in sound." (40) In this section, there it shows that you cannot control the world. There will always be chaos and pain and violence, but you have to learn how to live through it and survive because if you do not, you will be left in your pain with no way out.
"This shows the disorder, it does, it shows more likeness than anything else, it shows the single mind that directs an apple. All the coats have a different shape, that does not mean that they differ in color, it means a union between use and exercise and a horse." (67) This quote shows the reason and necessity of the poem. Like I said before, this book is chaotic to show the connections in chaos. It is a portrayal of the mind in a chaotic state. Everything is able to be connected because it is all from one mind and person.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was very relevant to today, even though it was written over one hundred years ago. I recommend that you read this, even if you are not really in to modernist writing because, even though it is confusing at first, once you start thinking about it, it becomes very poignant and interesting.
I don't normally enjoy modernist poetry much because I feel it tries too hard to be something it is not. It tries to solve problems it cannot, but I have enjoyed this book a lot. Instead of always trying to solve problems, it states how it is. The problems are still there, the chaos is still there, but there is still a sense of peace at what the world is. The speaker is an ordinary person doing ordinary things, thinking about a world that has gone to shit, and that is really relatable.
There is a lot of attention to color in this collection. In the first section, there was a focus on Red and Yellow. In the second, coal is a constant. The colors represent the changing times, the coal especially. Red, the color of blood and war. Yellow, the color of change, and illness. The war had become an illness that had spread across Europe and eventually, the world.
I love how the style is not really a poetic style. Instead it is written in a prose form, but not as a coherent story with a plot line. I appreciate how Stein is creating and experimenting with different styles of writing to try to convey what she wants to.
In the section Objects, there was a quote that I very much liked because I felt like it summed up how that section had been flowing, for me at least. "Book was there, it was there. Book was there. Stop it, stop it, it was a cleaner, a wet cleaner and it was not where it was wet, it was not high, it was directly placed back, not back again, back, it was returned, it was needless, it put a bank, a bank when, a bank care." (30) This quote is showing the chaos of the mind, the disruptions of how it thinks when trying to focus or process what is happening to it. This is how many people's thoughts may have seemed during and after the two World Wars, something Modernist literature and poetry often brings up.
"There is coagulation in cold and there is none in prudence. Something is preserved and the evening is long and the colder spring has sudden shadows in a sun." (40) I like this quotation from the second section, Food, because it acknowledges that even in a time of rebirth, there is still coldness and death. There are shadows in Spring because it is acknowledging the death that had to happen for the rebirth to occur. The "coagulation" can be a congregation of people when the times get tough. When it is "cold" people come together, but in times of prudence, or in times of happiness and peace, people do not feel the need to come together. There is a self-isolation that occurs in the good times.
"A sentence of vagueness that is violence is authority and a mission and stumbling and also certainly also a prison. Calmness, calm beside the plate and in way in. There is no turn in terror. There is no volume in sound." (40) In this section, there it shows that you cannot control the world. There will always be chaos and pain and violence, but you have to learn how to live through it and survive because if you do not, you will be left in your pain with no way out.
"This shows the disorder, it does, it shows more likeness than anything else, it shows the single mind that directs an apple. All the coats have a different shape, that does not mean that they differ in color, it means a union between use and exercise and a horse." (67) This quote shows the reason and necessity of the poem. Like I said before, this book is chaotic to show the connections in chaos. It is a portrayal of the mind in a chaotic state. Everything is able to be connected because it is all from one mind and person.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was very relevant to today, even though it was written over one hundred years ago. I recommend that you read this, even if you are not really in to modernist writing because, even though it is confusing at first, once you start thinking about it, it becomes very poignant and interesting.
A fascinating book with truly unpleasant characters!
Baby by Annaleese Jochems really intrigued me when I read the synopsis. I wasn’t under any illusions that this would be an odd read. I mean, 21 year old Cynthia runs off with her newly divorced fitness-instructor (Anahera), steals all,of her dads money from his bank account, and uses the money to buy a boat, Baby. And she takes her pug, Snot-head, along too. She thinks that she and Anahera will fall in love and live happily ever after. I don’t know whether Anahera knows this, at least not at first.
Cynthia is really not a nice person. ‘Vacuous’ would be a good word to describe her, as would ‘immature’ and ‘vindictive’. She’s shallow, and even around such natural beauty whilst on the boat, she is obsessed with social media and reality TV. Oh, and the way she looks. She thinks about what she looks like a lot, but doesn’t expect to have to do anything about it: she’s incredibly lazy, and expects Anahera to do everything for her.
Her reaction to a terrible accident involving a young boy sealed the deal for me: Cynthia thinks of no one but herself.
This all sounds really negative, as though I’m not going to like it, doesn’t it. I’ve left writing my review for a week or two, because I needed to think about it. I couldn’t actually get this book out of my head. It made me feel supremely uncomfortable whilst reading it, and I could feel myself wincing, metaphorically hiding my face behind my hands when I thought about it afterwards. But do you know what, I think I actually liked it. To make characters so thoroughly unpleasant, but to make the reader want to carry on reading, takes quite some skill. I’ve told friends about it, said they should read it, because it does say something about the world we live in and those who inhabit it. And honestly, it’s not all good.
So read this book. I’ve no doubt you’ll be wanting to throttle Cynthia as well!
Cynthia is really not a nice person. ‘Vacuous’ would be a good word to describe her, as would ‘immature’ and ‘vindictive’. She’s shallow, and even around such natural beauty whilst on the boat, she is obsessed with social media and reality TV. Oh, and the way she looks. She thinks about what she looks like a lot, but doesn’t expect to have to do anything about it: she’s incredibly lazy, and expects Anahera to do everything for her.
Her reaction to a terrible accident involving a young boy sealed the deal for me: Cynthia thinks of no one but herself.
This all sounds really negative, as though I’m not going to like it, doesn’t it. I’ve left writing my review for a week or two, because I needed to think about it. I couldn’t actually get this book out of my head. It made me feel supremely uncomfortable whilst reading it, and I could feel myself wincing, metaphorically hiding my face behind my hands when I thought about it afterwards. But do you know what, I think I actually liked it. To make characters so thoroughly unpleasant, but to make the reader want to carry on reading, takes quite some skill. I’ve told friends about it, said they should read it, because it does say something about the world we live in and those who inhabit it. And honestly, it’s not all good.
So read this book. I’ve no doubt you’ll be wanting to throttle Cynthia as well!
