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holland's review
emotional
reflective
5.0
Haunting, aching, a strong strong sense of place. It's such a comprehensive and devastating collection. I've read individual poems by Bruce Snider before and was impressed with how he constructs narratives in his poetry (highly, highly recommend reading "Devotions", a poem I think about constantly https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...), but put together in a volume that tells a story across a landscape that becomes striking when Snider describes it ("Have I reached the end of the world? Or Indiana?") the poems become astounding. A collection that's going to stick with me for a while.
coreyjboren's review against another edition
4.0
I am, myself, a mere novice in the world of poetry, but I thoroughly enjoyed Snider's collection. A ruminative exploration of queer sexuality, rural identity, and how the places we live shape us, Paradise, Indiana is a tour-de-force of emotions.
Each of Snider’s poems revolves around setting, primarily the titular town and state, and are grounded in this setting as a way of delving into the themes it discusses. I never felt like I was lost on my journey— I was in Indiana, a state I have little relationship with and have only driven through once (on a crowded tour bus), yet felt, through this collection, a complex relationship with.
Snider deals with the subject of Indiana in a way that is careful and controlled. He does not condemn Indiana as a backward state, but nor does he laud it particularly much either. He simply presents his conflicted experience with his homeland without didacticism. After all, aren’t most queer people’s relationships with where we grew up complicated? I know mine certainly is, and I found that to be the most relatable part of Snider’s collection.
The individual lines all feel well thought out, and there are many that will stick with me, such as this image from the title poem: “I’d put my frozen hands in my pockets / to keep them warm or watch my parents / walking arm in arm past the nativity / with its Baby Jesus, twice stolen, now nailed / to the manger, his cracked halo painted so yellow / it could be, if seen from a distance, polished gold.”
Well done, Bruce Snider. This collection will stay with me long after I’ve placed it back on the shelf.
Each of Snider’s poems revolves around setting, primarily the titular town and state, and are grounded in this setting as a way of delving into the themes it discusses. I never felt like I was lost on my journey— I was in Indiana, a state I have little relationship with and have only driven through once (on a crowded tour bus), yet felt, through this collection, a complex relationship with.
Snider deals with the subject of Indiana in a way that is careful and controlled. He does not condemn Indiana as a backward state, but nor does he laud it particularly much either. He simply presents his conflicted experience with his homeland without didacticism. After all, aren’t most queer people’s relationships with where we grew up complicated? I know mine certainly is, and I found that to be the most relatable part of Snider’s collection.
The individual lines all feel well thought out, and there are many that will stick with me, such as this image from the title poem: “I’d put my frozen hands in my pockets / to keep them warm or watch my parents / walking arm in arm past the nativity / with its Baby Jesus, twice stolen, now nailed / to the manger, his cracked halo painted so yellow / it could be, if seen from a distance, polished gold.”
Well done, Bruce Snider. This collection will stay with me long after I’ve placed it back on the shelf.
areaxbiologist's review against another edition
5.0
A lovely, tender and tragic collection. Quirky and elegiac at times.
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