Synopses & Reviews
Glyn Maxwell's last book of poems, The Nerve, was declared "one of the most enjoyable books of the year" by the New York Times Book Review. In The Sugar Mile, Maxwell returns to the extended verse narrative he so brilliantly employed in Time's Fool, to juxtapose two cities on the brink of irrevocable change. The Sugar Mile begins when the poet steps into an uptown Manhattan bar a few days before September 11, 2001. He is confronted by Joseph Stone, a barstool regular and a fellow expatriate. "What a mess the young man's made . . . with his poetry pen . . . Warm the beer, Raul, there's an English gent/on duty." It has been almost exactly sixty-one years since London's "Black Saturday," the start of the worst of the Blitz during World War II. Joe is a survivor of the bombing, and his insistent story brings his lost neighbors back to share the terror and the peculiar beauty blooming in the chaos of their last days. Raul, the bartender, interrupts to brag about New York's wonders -- as we begin to understand that the city soon will face its own catastrophic moment in history.
As Stone's memories grow more hallucinatory and the bar in New York ends another day, the chance encounter of two strangers takes on the inevitability of fate.
Review
'\"His formal technique is as strong as ever. . .and he still excels as a ventriloquist.\"'
Review
'\"A book of such effortlessly delicate storytelling that one hardly notices how ambitious a project it actually is.\" --Jon Mooallem'
Review
'\"Gripping . . . triumphant . . . a brilliant and deeply enjoyable book.\" --Robert Travers'
Review
"His formal technique is as strong as ever. . .and he still excels as a ventriloquist." Publishers Weekly
"A book of such effortlessly delicate storytelling that one hardly notices how ambitious a project it actually is." --Jon Mooallem The San Francisco Chronicle
"Gripping . . . triumphant . . . a brilliant and deeply enjoyable book." --Robert Travers The Chicago Tribune
Synopsis
This stirring verse narrative begins when the poet steps into an uptown Manhattan bar a few days before September 11, 2001. Encountering Joe Stone, a fellow Brit and a barstool regular, the narrator becomes the fated scribe of Joe's memories of London's "Black Saturday," the start of the worst of the Blitz during World War II. As the old man's haunting recollections of the prelude to the Blitz collide with a New York bartender's blithe optimism about the glories of America, we begin to discern the shadows and reflections of the past in New York's impending catastrophe. Deftly moving from past to present, using various poetic forms to delineate each character's unique voice, this verse drama explores everyday beauty and innocence on the brink of disaster.
About the Author
'Glyn Maxwell was born in 1962 in Hertfordshire, England. He studied English at Oxford and poetry at Boston University. He is the poetry editor of the New Republic and the author of four New York Times Notable Books. Among the honors he has received are the Somerset Maugham Prize and the E. M. Forster Prize, which he was awarded in 1997 by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Maxwell now lives with his wife and their daughter in the United States.'