Upstream: Selected Essays
Ratings37
Average rating4
The prose in this was breathtakingly beautiful at times, but I soon found it a chore to pick up. I became disenchanted with Oliver after her assertions of what a ““real”” artist is and that people should be thankful if you don't show up to meet them somewhere because it means you're doing !!important art!!
Mary Oliver's poetry is fantastic for the most part. I especially like the way she observes the natural world. Unfortunately her prose leaves a lot to be desired. I do not know why I found this collection of essays so bland. Each essay has its moments; however, I did not ind many insights into her life and what really motivated her writing. I was sadly disappointe.
I loved the first two sections, where she talks about life and nature. The last three sections felt boring.
Well I don't think this book is totally bad just it wasn't for me it bored me a lot and I think it was repetitive although I haven't get familiarized with poetry but for now I think I'm gonna leave this score although I'm gonna try to reread this one in another time to see if my taste for poetry improved and get a better try on this one
A mix of Oliver fangirling over her favorite writers and her hosting an episode of planet earth
Remember that one L.M. Montgomery book called The Blue Castle where Valancy is obsessed with a nature writer? This is how I imagine his writing to be like. Also, I never imagined eating turtle eggs.
I liked most (but not all) of these essays of Mary Oliver's. She writes essays like she writes poems: tentatively walking around things, examining them, and kindly talking aloud about them.