See my blog post on it:

http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/06/booknote-woman-i-kept-to-myself.html ( )

These poems by Julia Alvarez are autobiographical. They describe her youth and experience of racism and prejudice. They also describe her love of literature and interest in poetry, motherhood, writing, spirituality, etc. I read through slowly and with interest. I didn't feel wowed by anything, but I was drawn in. ( )

Wow. Accessible, but still subtle, not pap. Beautiful, but usually not pretty. I finished savoring each one, over the course of a couple of months, and immediately started right back in the beginning. Won't be releasing this in bookcrossing quite yet!

If you like this, read The House on Mango Street."" ( )

This collection of poetry is a great addition to the American immigrant experience shelf, in particular the Spanish-speaking, Latin American immigrant experience shelf, perhaps right next to Ana Menendez's "In Cuba I was a German Shepherd." It is a collection of carefully distilled observations and autobiographical confessions of growing up and being Dominican-American.

But do not be fooled, that's just a bit of what's in here. There is also a lot about being a writer, choosing words, working words, polishing and obsessing about words. Then what becomes interesting, at least to me, is that this particular collection contains poems that could have been written in paragraph format (some people refer to this as prose poetry, though there are different kinds, and this kind is certainly much much more prose than other prose poetry I have read) and you'd have a collection of half-page long diary entries or super short (flash) fiction. And I have not read all of Alvarez' poetry to know if she writes only like this or not, but this kind of prose poetry does not give me the impression that every word was obsessed over and every line was revised endlessly to capture that one particular way of saying something. So that can be amazing craft, or none at all, and in the end it does not matter. But it is certainly not the kind of poetry that you would have to read and re-read in amazement of how those words fit together to give you not a narrative but a feeling. This collection is much more about the narrative, some predictable, but very many surprisingly fresh. It is more about a few well-put words lingering as an afterthought once you are done with a poem. Apart from the immigrant experience and the writer's woes and joys, Alvarez explores family relations, marriage, nature, career woes (as can be applied to any career, not just writing,) and self-analysis.

I would recommend this collection to those who have trouble with poetry, those who think poetry does not make sense, those who claim "poetry is too hard." I would also recommend it to those who find solace in literature and poetry. ( )

Julia Alvarez is perhaps best known for her novels; such as, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies (which became a movie), but it seems she has also produced three collections of poetry. Alvarez was born in the Dominican Republic and came to the US when she was 10. Her work has always reflected these two cultural influences.

I no longer approach a poetry collection by an author whose novels I read with certain expectations—that I know what I will find or who I will find. Poetry is a different medium altogether. In this collection, Alvarez is writing more personally about the stories of her life. Her poetry is frank and friendly, accessible, with a slight cadence. I enjoyed the collection and have singled out some favorites, including one titled "Poetry Makes Nothing Happen?", about the unacknowledged effects poetry can have on us. ( )