Spoon River Anthology

This is a really bad copy of Spoon River Anthology. It looks like a nice little paperback from the picture, but it is oversized and the layout is thoughtless, difficult to use, and unappealing. Also there is no index or foreword or any of that, which makes this not so much a book as a cheaply bound printout. The actual content of SRA is five star, but spend a couple of bucks extra and get a better version.This all was enough to get the one star, but mine also arrived with two inch long diagonal cut in the back cover.

This book of poetry never disappoints. Every few years I re-read it and it's a new experience--my takeaways change as the years pass, because there is always something new, always something more. As a gift, this is a book that really seems to give pleasure to the receivers. Highly recommend.

I loved this little book. The little place I grew up was a lot like Spoon River with the same kind of people and strange convoluted lives that affected every other person in town. Everyone knew whose cat did what, but no one wanted it discussed in public. But, of course, no one could write about the situations as well as Edgar Lee Masters did. The way the book ended also reminded me of The Scarlet Letter and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. It was as if the manuscript was simply a "found" thing that was published. The poetic language made this much better than a gossip column, and the extra philosophical viewpoint of the dead speaking was perfectly scathing in its effect. Great little book!

in the American tradition, a memorable document of the lives of common people.Their often tragic reality, confessions one cannot read without feeling overwhelmed.A village contains the substance of Shakesperian tragedies, in a nutshell. Highlyrecommended, best after being acquainted with Alfred Kazin,

I love the musical (play) for which I played guitar/sang way back in the early 70's, and was so pleased to find the original on which that was based. I had expected a smaller volume--it's around 8X10"--but will fit nicely with the score I have.

I read Lincoln on the Bardo and then went for Spoon River Anhology which I had never read before ( I am not American ) It surprised me : it has USA’s history, social and economic issues, interpersonal relations, moral dramas ... and a lot more, in a powerfull and lyric language

Masters builds the story of Spoon River in a series of poems that are connected and tell the story as well if not better than any novel. Well worth reading

This classic is a collection of the ruminations of the dead of the fictional town, Spoon River. Masters captures the essence of this town as the dead react to their life experiences, often passing judgment on one another. Sometimes witty, sometimes despondent, always entertaining as the town's residents bare their souls.

I really only got about 4/5th into this one, and just couldn't make myself finish it. Normally I look for writing that is out side the box, and while this very unusual stlyle was initially an atttention-grabber, the unrelenting subject of death and more death, finished me out of it. recommend trying it if it is free.

several small editing mistakes noted which are relevant to the piece.

It is somewhat like sayings of Robert Grave that I have taken an immortal wound that will not get over.