This poet's talents are tested and true but what a difficult topic she's chosen for this book, the dissolution of her 32-year marriage after her husband finds another woman. It is worth reading but painful and poignant, and an interesting window into one woman's reaction to loss and hurt. ( )

2013 (my review can be found on the LibraryThing page linked)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/154187#4212695

Sharon Olds' Stag's Leap is a book of poems about the author's divorce. It received much acclaim, including winning the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2013.

But I have to say that it is by far the weakest book in her oeuvre. Satan Says, her first book, was like a series of firecrackers, every poem a veritable explosion. In this book, almost every poem is a dud. The poems are leaden; they lack depth and range. She reveals an amount of self-absorption that is downright embarrassing. The poems say that both she and her friends think she has been maudlin too long. I can't agree more. There are phrases and even whole poems that possess power and are worth reading, but they are few and far between.

The fact that this was deemed the best book of poems by the Pulitzer committee in 2013 is a reflection that politics plays more of a hand than quality in literary awards. ( )

Sharon Olds' Stag's Leap is a book of poems about the author's divorce. It received much acclaim, including winning the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2013.

But I have to say that it is by far the weakest book in her oeuvre. Satan Says, her first book, was like a series of firecrackers, every poem a veritable explosion. In this book, almost every poem is a dud. The poems are leaden; they lack depth and range. She reveals an amount of self-absorption that is downright embarrassing. The poems say that both she and her friends think she has been maudlin too long. I can't agree more. There are phrases and even whole poems that possess power and are worth reading, but they are few and far between.

The fact that this was deemed the best book of poems by the Pulitzer committee in 2013 is a reflection that politics plays more of a hand than quality in literary awards. ( )

This slim volume of poetry won a Pulitzer Prize. I located it on a list of poetry everyone should read. I did not enjoy it. The volume focuses on her divorce and the feelings surrounding it. The author definitely took out her feelings through her writing. It was "TMI" (too much information). Although Olds' writing style excelled, the topic left me cold. ( )