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lcgordon's review against another edition
unbearably detailed and honestly i think the author just really really wants to fuck the subject
ladydewinter's review against another edition
5.0
This book has been a part of my life for four months, and I am going to miss it. It was the perfect way to read it, too, because that way James Merrill and his poetry seeped into my own life and enriched it.
It now feels weird that six months ago I had never heard of him. I first encountered his poems in “Love speaks its name“, and something about his poems made me get both „Sandover”, his collected poems and this biography. I don’t think this is the kind of book you read in one go - it’s exhaustive, but I have no doubt that feels exhausting when reading it as a whole rather than split in short chunks. Split like that, it was highly enjoyable because of its details.
Apart from telling James Merrill’s “life story” (which is fascinating on its own), this book does a great job illuminating Merrill’s poems, which were very much influenced by his experiences. The chapters on “Sandover” were probably my favorites, but I liked the way Hammer included and interpreted poems throughout the text.
For me, this book was an unexpected pleasure, and an immense one at that. While not everyone may experience this book the way I did, I hope everyone who likes to read finds books like this one; books that reshape your mind and widen your horizons as well as touch your heart and soul.
It now feels weird that six months ago I had never heard of him. I first encountered his poems in “Love speaks its name“, and something about his poems made me get both „Sandover”, his collected poems and this biography. I don’t think this is the kind of book you read in one go - it’s exhaustive, but I have no doubt that feels exhausting when reading it as a whole rather than split in short chunks. Split like that, it was highly enjoyable because of its details.
Apart from telling James Merrill’s “life story” (which is fascinating on its own), this book does a great job illuminating Merrill’s poems, which were very much influenced by his experiences. The chapters on “Sandover” were probably my favorites, but I liked the way Hammer included and interpreted poems throughout the text.
For me, this book was an unexpected pleasure, and an immense one at that. While not everyone may experience this book the way I did, I hope everyone who likes to read finds books like this one; books that reshape your mind and widen your horizons as well as touch your heart and soul.
lukas_sotola's review against another edition
A titanic effort by a great writer. Langdon Hammer was insightful, sprinkling his book with readings of James Merrill's poetry and giving the author's work context within his life. Which is crucial with this poet, since most of his work is autobiographical to a point where it is difficult to understand many of his poems without some knowledge of his life. Hammer is eloquent without being precious or pretentious, and brings Merrill himself and the people most important to him--his mother, Hellen Plummer; his two major loves, David Jackson and Peter Hooten; his many writer friends, Elizabeth Bishop, especially; and many others--to life like a firsthand account of the events he reports. James Merrill was outgoing; sociable; was always around other people; traveled all the time and to many places, living in Greece periodically; was witty, filling his letters and diaries just as much as his poems with witty plays on cliches and wordplay; and also very generous with his fabulous wealth, and these permeate every page of the biography. It feels like Hammer wrote Merrill’s whole world and its atmosphere into this work. This is something that I will return to time and again when I need help reading one of Merrill's poems, whether to consult one of Hammer's discussions of a poem or just to read about the event Merrill writes about in a poem. Anyone interested in this author's life and work should read this.
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