Named one of 12 Favorite Poetry Books of 2015 by The New Yorker, one of the “16 Best Poetry Books of 2015″ by BuzzFeed, a “Book We Can’t Wait to Read” by Vogue, and in the top “8 New Books to Savor” by O, the Oprah Magazine.
Praise for The Uses of the Body
“Landau’s killer wit evokes Dorothy Parker crossed with Sylvia Plath — leaping spark after spark, growing to deadly dark fire. “The Uses of the Body” is her best book, its acerbic tone (“The uses of the body, illusion”) interspersed with lines of grave and startling beauty.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Landau has found an insidiously catchy music in The Uses of the Body. It’s like weaponized vers de société. ”
–The New Yorker
—O Magazine
“Her arch observations create dark interior comedy that’s reminiscent of Virginia Woolf or Sylvia Plath….Get this book.”
–NPR, All Things Considered
—Vogue
“Landau’s occasional rhymes, sound patterns, repetitions, and rhythms—all impeccably executed..give the book its irresistible immediacy. The Uses of the Body is Landau’s most powerful and distinctive collection to date.”
-Boston Review
–Library Journal, Starred Review
“Forces of opposition rule in this gorgeous and unflinching third collection from Landau (The Last Usable Hour), director of NYU’s creative writing program. Powerful and vulnerable, spare in form and ardent in tone, her lyric sequences broach existential questions as sweeping and timeless as her language is particular and contemporary.”
–Publisher’s Weekly
“Deborah Landau is (a) fierce poet of desire…Her stunning third book, The Uses of the Body, offers a meditation on aging and loss: a series of elegant, long poems that sing, hesitate and haunt.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle
Landau “taps into a national zeitgeist….Her childbirth poems rank alongside Mina Loy’s ‘‘Parturition,’’ Plath’s ‘‘Morning Song,’’ and…Berryman’s ‘‘Homage to Mistress Bradstreet.’’ The Uses of the Body is an exceptional volume that returns, in its last movement, to a moment of euphoric release.
-The Gettysburg Review
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