Gonzalez gives the reader a glimpse into what it means to be alive at various stages of her life, particularly in the ways she has had to simultaneously contend with love and pain while living in the world we’re in. I found the first half of this collection far more compelling than the latter half; I will say the fourth and final section was strong enough, but that third section just didn’t quite work for me. I think what stood out to me about the first two sections was that there was a sense of urgency and intent in those poems that then only appeared sporadically as the collection continued. Relatedly, something else that struck me about this collection was that I couldn’t quite tell what direction Gonzalez wanted to take her poems. Some poems took a more theoretical route in the more erudite sense, while others took a somewhat more reflective and personal route. There’s nothing wrong with having both types, but I think what confused me was how the poems were organized and, ultimately, what the takeaway(s) should be.

There was something left to be desired in this collection, but I sincerely believe there is promise in Gonzalez’s poetry and look forward to reading her future works.

Some favorites: “Notes Toward an Elegy,” “After My Brother’s Death, I Reflect on the Iliad,” “To My Thirty-Year-Old Self,” “Tornado in August,” and “Epistemology of the Shower”