Plot (Grove Press Poetry Series) by Claudia Rankine

Plot (Grove Press Poetry Series) Reviews

• 
  Alwynne

  Powerful and intricate, Claudia Rankine’s long poem reworks one of fiction’s most basic, recurring plots: a man and a woman meet, marry and then have a child. Each step often painted as inevitable plot progression. Rankine is interested here in exploring the confusions and contradictions often erased in the telling of such stories, naming her couple Liv and Erland after the actors in Ingmar Bergman’s classic Scenes from a Marriage which Bergman partly visualised as airing women’s suppressed feelings and rage. Rankine focuses on Liv, her “emotional landscape” and the conflicting thoughts and sensations stirred by pregnancy, and the possibility it holds of a child she refers to as Ersatz.
  
  For Erland it seems fatherhood is a desirable state, although its practicalities seem daunting. Liv isn’t so sure, for her the presence of something growing within her body manifests as an “estranged interlacing” challenging her fragile sense of self both physically and mentally, forcing an uncomfortable awareness of the leaky boundaries between self and other. This anxiety is intensified by the fact that she’s an artist and she muses on the possible consequences of motherhood for her future. She’s haunted too by the figure of the childless Virginia Woolf, whose drowned body, submerged in the River Ouse becomes an obsession, an image she paints over and over again. She’s equally drawn to the character of the painter Lily Briscoe in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse both somehow speak to her fears and desires, providing an outlet for the expression of ambiguities and uncertainties. Something that there seems to be no space for in the wider world.
  
  Dense, demanding and striking, this is frequently more abstract than the later pieces of hers I’ve encountered. Rankine’s inventive, challenging poem plays with form: from the shape and the layout of the words on the page to the ways in which she incorporates conversations, internal monologue and even dream states. Rankine’s interested too in associations between words, the ways in which seemingly unrelated terms may yet carry “traces” of each other because of their shared sounds or associations – something apparently drawn from Caribbean writing traditions - and I found sections of this worked best read aloud. First published in 2001, it’s a deeply reflective, complex exploration of widespread cultural assumptions about the maternal, gender, creativity and motherhood.
  
  Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Classics for an ARC
• 
  Sarah

  1.5 rounded up
  
  Having been really impressed by
  Claudia Rankine's previous books -
  Citizen: An American Lyric and
  Just Us: An American Conversation - I was excited to try this book, an earlier work of poetry. There's no doubt that Rankine is an excellent writer, but I'm sorry to say I struggled with this, finding it too abstract for my own personal taste.
  
  Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Chris

  I’m afraid this went way over my head. I was impressed by the language and style but this was not for me.
  Thank you Penguin and Netgalley for the ARC.
• 
  Allison

  Holy shit Claudia Rankine can write. I love her wordplay so much. This is the story of a couple, Liv and Erland, though it’s primarily the story of Liv - who finds out she is pregnant and isn’t sure she wants to be. Rankine’s description of the baby growing in Liv’s belly are visceral and stunning. The ending as well. The middle sections require a lot of digestion. I spend a lot of time while reading poetry thinking about something I once heard Traci K Smith say, how she asks “what does this bring up for you?” Rather than “what does it mean?” I couldn’t tell you quite what Claudia Rankine “means,” especially in the sections where Liv is painting, but this brings up the complexities of womanhood, motherhood. I’ve always wanted to be a mother and in recent years coming to terms with what it might mean for me to become a mom without carrying the baby physically myself through pregnancy. I’ve never quite read pregnancy written the way the Rankine has, and it’s absolutely outstanding.
• 
  Ben Dutton

  Claudia Rankine's Plot was first published in 2001 and is being re-issued by Penguin. It is a poetry collection concerning pregnancy and motherhood. Erland and Liv are at the centre of the piece, and it is Liv's doubts, fears and passions which drive the narrative. Explained as such, Rankine's book sounds rather simple, but it is Rankine's style which truly elevates the work to greater heights. Her style is truly unique, and you either get on board and enjoy the ride, or she will leave you at the wayside.
  
  This is a book which has taken a few days to settle in my thoughts before I felt able to review it. I think it a very fine, beautiful piece of work. It will not be to everyone's taste, but it has certainly driven me to seek out more of her work.
  
  Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
• 
  Arya

  about to lose my MIND
  
  sections 4 and 6 are the best (beached debris ?!?)
  
  so inspiring, very dense, will be re-reading for years and years
• 
  Paula Koneazny

  Reading Rankine reminds me not to give oneself up easily. Her writing does not give itself up easily. Plot is ostensibly the narrative of a pregnancy and a birth; a couple, Liv and Erland await their son-to-be, whom they have named Ersatz (the substitute?). Liv’s is a pregnancy experienced from the inside, physically, emotionally, intellectually. Experienced also in the dialog between Liv and Erland, Ersatz’s parents to be. Unspoken taboos are spoken here. Doubts. Fears. Anticipations. “the mothering more forged than known.” The singular and the plural being. Who am I? Who is he? Am I the parent or am I the child, the mother, the wife, the lover? Liv is a painter obsessed with the death of Virginia Woolf, Woolf’s body as a sodden log, at first hidden, submerged, then beached, brought to the surface. As if the river gives birth to a death. In Liv’s more morbid thoughts, a metaphor for her pregnancy, “whose womb rhymes with plot,” as in the story, as in burial plot, as in conspire. What Liv says of the painting might apply to Rankine’s poems as well: “The subject must be erased though the painting is saturated by what was felt, what was seen by the erased face.” But then, there is what comes afterward, part of the plot or after the plot, the joy.
• 
  Herbie

  After several instances of picking this up and not being able to get into it, I finally really got into it, and it was great. The opening was probably a stronger siren call because I've now had much (much) more personal proximity to pregnancy and birth.
  
  I read this mostly all in one sitting, which I recommend. For me, this was a more difficult read than Citizen or Don't Let Me Be Lonely.
  
  I was particularly elated to get to the part about Lily Briscoe (a character in To The Lighthouse). Having the acts of artistic creation and human creation (pregnancy, labor) placed side by side was pretty thrilling to me. The depictions of the bodily sensations of pregnancy, the experiencing of them - are also so wonderful here.
  
  I want to write more but I can't right now.
• 
  Greg Bem

  I wasn't expecting Rankine's experimentation to be as intense here, but loved it nonetheless. The exploration of understanding the bodies behind a pregnancy is unique--haven't read anything like it, and am bookmarking it for the future.
  
  Second review:
  I have just finished Rankine's powerful Plot for a second time in the same year. This time I encountered so much more. The river. The Life, cap on the L, where there is potentiality. And the distance as generative and optimistic no matter how much pain. This work is fantastic and enduring, endearing, and dares through its multitudes.
• 
  Jennifer Collins

  A few years back, I was blown away by Rankine's collection, Don't Let Me Be Lonely. That book has lived in my head ever since I read it, and in some ways, it redefined how I thought about contemporary poetry collections. So, knowing that, you can imagine and take into account how high my hopes were for Plot...which didn't really live up to that other reading experience.
  
  Another tightly themed and progressive collection, Plot centered on a journeyed discussion of pregnancy, childbirth, related individual choice/bodily autonomy, and artistic identity. Already, these isn't a theme that I'm able to connect to as much as I could connect with Don't Let Me Be Lonely, and it's possible I just wasn't the right reader for this book. Admittedly, I picked up the collection only because of the poet's name, not even bothering to read the blurb (if I had, I perhaps would have picked up one of her other collections). Rankine's poetics are as powerful and gorgeous as ever, but I found it more difficult to connect to this book than Don't Let Me Be Lonely. I suspect that's due to me as a reader vs. Rankine's work here, which is undeniably impressive.
  
  In the end, this may well end up being a book I come back to or recommend, but I'm more anxious to explore more of her other work.
• 
  Victoria

  A poetry collection that leaves you slightly unsettled, deep in thought and enchanted by the array of vocabulary, Plot certainly doesn't leave you with a literary hole to fill.
  
  A use of language that's displayed throughout with such force, this book is certainly a stunning way to share the fear, anxiety and emotional toll of having a baby - the inside of Liv's brain is put to paper with incredible feeling and certainly feels like something that the author needed to write for herself.
  
  Different styles and techniques allow for the poetry to really grab you, I particularly found the 'boxed' style poems really interesting and unique, however this whole collection is certainly delivering a variety of poetic styles that make for an intriguing read.
  
  However I do think this collection just wasn't for me, I think sometimes it felt confusing and though I appreciate the language and think I have a wide vocabulary, I've never felt so at sea with trying to figure out the meaning sometimes of certain words and fully understand what the intent of the author was.
  
  overall a really thoughtful, emotional collection of poetry.
  
  (Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC for review).
• 
  Amelia

  “Shellfish. No… approach it. Selfish. Oui.”
  
  Bro the wordplay!!!💀💀
  That’s an actual line from the book!!
  Please spare me.
  Just glancing at the pages (all the “proximity” ones are subtitles that divide up the book like chapters), here’s some ridiculousness:
  
  “so like, so liked”
  
  “coherence in consequence”
  
  “mother coded for other”
  
  “live its evil”
  
  “proximity of clock to lock”
  
  “proximity of inner to In Her”
  
  “proximity of stuck to tuck”
  
  “proximity of weary to wary”
  
  “Contemplating the proximity of prison to person”
  
  “missing, so missed”
  
  “proximity of accrue to rue”
  
  “Proximity of posed to exposed”
  
  “The Ouch in Touch”
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Sarah

  This is a short book about pregnancy & motherhood in a way I haven't seen it written about before. Liv and Erland are expecting a baby and Liv is reluctant about it. The changes to her body, to their life and lifestyle is hashed out across the pages.
  
  I am historically not great at reviewing poetry and I doubt that my luck is going to change now! I have been planning to read Claudia Rankine's work and this has encouraged me to pick up more of her books.
  
  Read via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
• 
  Eric Mueller

  This is the first book where I've had to read the opening section five times. Rankine probably does more with syntax, word order, internal rhyming, and structure in the first few pages than many do in a while book. This book is as masterful as it is powerful. As the collection, which is in sections but could stand alone as its own long poem, follows a character physically and cerebral through explorations of love and family planning.
• 
  Antonio Delgado

  I love Rankine's work, including her opera work at the High Line in NYC. I can see how in 'Plot' her style and some themes are introduced. However, reading 'Plot' after having consumed the rest of her work may no do justice to my appreciation.
• 
  Stephanie Karina

  Beautifully written but it's about pregnancy and how the different characters dealt with it and it's different stories written in poetry form. Not my cup of tea.
• 
  Katarzyna Bartoszynska

  These are fantastic — best poetic representation of pregnancy I've encountered.
• 
  Suzanne

  4.5 really really loved this
• 
  Dylan Marcus

  i confess - i lost the plot on this one.
• 
  Tony S

  I must admit at first I was not sure about this and the style of writing but once you get used to it it really is an excellent read and has a nice style
• 
  Courtney

  Anything Claudia Rankine writes is brilliant and beautiful. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. "Interlude" was my favorite passage. I'll have to read this a few more times; I'm not smart enough yet to completely understand everything as the style is quite complex.
• 
  Kathy

  it's probably amazing but I can't claim to understand it all well enough. fantastic wordplay and therefore also image play. really grateful to have read it now since my niece is pregnant, which is an experience I will never have/
• 
  Lightsey

  I've given this the once-through. Witty, densely patterned, mischievous. It's about a pregnancy from the mother's point of view, but pregnancy leans into creation in general, so we have an intensely female discourse on creation, parenting, and responsibility, self/other--all those issues of bringing something from the self into the world. I can say all this and yet not feel it viscerally yet. . . let me say that the "metaphorical" surface of pregnancy is pretty thick, such that this un-mother couldn't entirely relate at times. Impressive, but I haven't closed the distance between myself and the poetry yet.
  I'm going to move this one off my list of books I'm currently reading. I've done the once-through (actually, because of absentmindedness, I've read the first few pages at least 4 times), and I don't feel like going back in at the moment. Maybe I'll wait until all my friends who are "not not trying to get pregnant" get pregnant before I read & rate.
• 
  Kent

  Plot does indeed feel as though it's the next poetic step to take after The End of the Alphabet. Where Alphabet forced a confrontation between language and feeling, Plot elaborates on that confrontation by offering glimpses of a narrative that creates an arc over the book. In fact, this narrative, with its hard set biological structure (the speaker is living through a pregnancy), has a stability that allows for an even greater accessibility and range to Rankine's more language-oriented statements. Reading this, it is hard to deny the powerful resonance a narrative can have, and it's most impressive to see the way Rankine capitalizes on that, especially the flushed joy that comes in the final section.
• 
  Beth Younge

  I really enjoyed this because of Claudia Rankine's writing. The way it was written and structured was done really well, and i can't wait to own a physical copy of this to go with the rest of the books I have by Rankine. This kept me gripped all the way through and i would recommend everyone read this!
• 
  SmarterLilac

  My first exposure to Claudia Rankine and it was a very positive one. This book is great at depicting the perils of parenthood, especially for reluctant and ambivalent mothers. You would think it would be bleak or depressing, but it's somehow neither.