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ivyvi's review
3.0
I’ve been recommended Nick Flynn multiple times by a professor, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a copy of Some Ether at a used bookstore. Reading through these poems was a very heart-wrenching experience, poignant and visceral. Flynn’s poems grieve the death of an unconventional mother, the aftermath of an absent father, and, in some ways, faith. With religious undertones and pop references that place the poems in time, Flynn forms an almost narrative of the characters of the speaker and their parents, the speaker and their relationship with their faith and upbringing, the speaker and the grief of being left behind.
While these poems are brilliant, I’m simply rating this as 3 because I didn’t enjoy his style as much as I’d like with such subjects— he was matter of fact and very straightforward in his literary devices and narrative in a way that I didn’t really care for. I would recommend this collection to those wanting to read more poetry in general but aren’t looking for something that is a lot to digest.
While these poems are brilliant, I’m simply rating this as 3 because I didn’t enjoy his style as much as I’d like with such subjects— he was matter of fact and very straightforward in his literary devices and narrative in a way that I didn’t really care for. I would recommend this collection to those wanting to read more poetry in general but aren’t looking for something that is a lot to digest.
skpatton's review
5.0
I attended a reading of some of the poems by Nick Flynn at the Texas Book Festival. I felt that his way of dealing with family issues through poetry very helpful to my own situation. I have reread them over and over again.
bbshams's review
4.0
incredibly morbid, calm and poignant, i really enjoyed the ether section. light shining through the chaos
laurelinwonder's review
5.0
Many do not know that Nick Flynn is a poet, in fact, I had no idea when I met him a couple years ago. Some reviewers on Goodreads have criticized Flynn for his candidness about his life, and his parents (which most know a little about from his other work, or from the film "Being Flynn". One reviewer even ranted that it was a "poor me" collection of poems about suicide, schizophrenia, and self harm. I think these reviewers know little about poetry, and quite possible missed the point of this collection. Sure, this collection stands on the line of tragedy, and sure the content is no holiday in Paris. This is a traumatic collection, certainly no where near the melodramatic (as some reviewers would have you believe), no where near heavy handed. If anything, I fell in love the with tenderness of the language, and the gentle handling of harsh content. In the hands of a novice, this collection could have run into common cliche', but Flynn is anything but novice. I enjoyed this collection, at least as much as one chooses to fall into the trauma of another, accepting the pain that comes with reading such material. Flynn's attention to the details that matter, and word choice that avoided the easy route, and called readers to look at the subjects in each section through different lenses. This is a collection that leaves me uneasy, but it is the power of creating such a space that has left me still ruminating.
btmarino84's review
I really dig Flynn's style of poetry. This combination of imagery and more straight "confessional" autobio stuff is really breathtaking.
raejeana's review
5.0
Lots of really annoying notes written inside the copy I purchased, but the person wrote their name in the front cover and has a really cool Instagram so I learned to ignore that.
Some Ether is at times sexy, at times yellow-tinged, always fixated on water and suicide. Flynn addresses his traumas in a way that indicates that he has learned to exist alongside them, not particularly in a way that suggests he should or can move on. Not very many people make space for their traumas that way. It can help if you let it, and this collection did things for me because I let it.
Some Ether is at times sexy, at times yellow-tinged, always fixated on water and suicide. Flynn addresses his traumas in a way that indicates that he has learned to exist alongside them, not particularly in a way that suggests he should or can move on. Not very many people make space for their traumas that way. It can help if you let it, and this collection did things for me because I let it.
greensub's review
5.0
In Some Ether, Nick Flynn, like a skilled professor, teaches us the importance of therapeutic writing. As Flynn navigates his way through his mother's suicide and his father's vagrancy, the reader moves with him through the stages of shock, grief, and acceptance, until the end, when a way forward appears on the horizon like a far-away beacon, a pinpoint in the night, small, yet calling and promising peace.
I highly recommend this entire compilation, but I'll leave you with my favorite, a poem that has clung to my waking and sleeping mind like a movie you can't stop thinking about days after it is over.
Cartoon Physics, part 1
BY NICK FLYNN
Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know
that the universe is ever-expanding,
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies
swallowed by galaxies, whole
solar systems collapsing, all of it
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning
the rules of cartoon animation,
that if a man draws a door on a rock
only he can pass through it.
Anyone else who tries
will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,
ships going down—earthbound, tangible
disasters, arenas
where they can be heroes. You can run
back into a burning house, sinking ships
have lifeboats, the trucks will come
with their ladders, if you jump
you will be saved. A child
places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,
& drives across a city of sand. She knows
the exact spot it will skid, at which point
the bridge will give, who will swim to safety
& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn
that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff
he will not fall
until he notices his mistake.
///
I highly recommend this entire compilation, but I'll leave you with my favorite, a poem that has clung to my waking and sleeping mind like a movie you can't stop thinking about days after it is over.
Cartoon Physics, part 1
BY NICK FLYNN
Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know
that the universe is ever-expanding,
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies
swallowed by galaxies, whole
solar systems collapsing, all of it
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning
the rules of cartoon animation,
that if a man draws a door on a rock
only he can pass through it.
Anyone else who tries
will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,
ships going down—earthbound, tangible
disasters, arenas
where they can be heroes. You can run
back into a burning house, sinking ships
have lifeboats, the trucks will come
with their ladders, if you jump
you will be saved. A child
places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,
& drives across a city of sand. She knows
the exact spot it will skid, at which point
the bridge will give, who will swim to safety
& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn
that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff
he will not fall
until he notices his mistake.
///
drudouglas's review
5.0
The only moment I did not swoon over the sadness of this collection was upon closing the book, when I wondered (jealously) why I wasn't able to make simple words sound so good together.