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Don't Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine

Ashley Watson, January 9, 2008

An absolutely gorgeous book. Written in a lyrical prose that reinvents both poetry and memoir, Claudia Rankine's brilliance is evident in the first few lines of the book. Rankine writes from the dark side of the mental tracks, carefully chronicling America's ugliest and most tabooed truths, from clinical depression and rape to the false hope the media presents. But the fearless perspective of a poet's existential reality--her reality--does not leave the reader without hope. "The sadness," Rankine writes, "is not really about George W. or our American optimism; the sadness lives in the recognition that a life can not matter" (23). Genuine optimism is the recognition that we create our own realities, which is a refrain that pulses in the poet's unique rhythm throughout the book.

Rankine's ability to keep a metronomic pace with the repetition of the familiar image of a television screen filled with static, interchanged with eerie diagrams, personal photos, and real images from television, is astonishing. These images juxtaposed with her quiet lyrical voice create a breathless tone that is paradoxically calming. In this relatively short book, Rankine captures the essence of contemporary America through the threads connecting the modern media to our overwhelming and collective sadness. It is truly, "An American Lyric."

Stunning. You will not be disappointed.

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