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A review by archytas
Dancing with Empty Prams by Susan Austin
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This volume, taken as a whole, provides compelling insight into an infertility journey. Each poem is distinct, and the narrative is formed by the holistic combination of these (which does move linearly through time). This allows a kaleidoscopic view of an experience. Through the poems, Austin gives each moment, emotion, or thought space to breathe, to be ambivalent or intensely felt. But the next poem can take us to a different space. It works remarkably well for conveying complexity, contradiction and the hugeness of such an experience.
The poems do various kinds of heavy lifting, from exposition to emotional clarity, and there are inevitable bumpy patches. Still, some of the more outstanding entries, including Intimacy and Invisible Undercurrent, capture perfectly a moment in time.
I felt quite drained by the end, which I think is partly the point. We are still emerging in the literature that values, explores and shares women-centred experiences, especially such embodied ones, and I think this is a significant contribution to that body of work.
The poems do various kinds of heavy lifting, from exposition to emotional clarity, and there are inevitable bumpy patches. Still, some of the more outstanding entries, including Intimacy and Invisible Undercurrent, capture perfectly a moment in time.
I felt quite drained by the end, which I think is partly the point. We are still emerging in the literature that values, explores and shares women-centred experiences, especially such embodied ones, and I think this is a significant contribution to that body of work.