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A review by harinid
The Long Take: Or a Way to Lose More Slowly by Robin Robertson
2.0
As I started reading this book- lyric verse being a new format for me coupled with a post war story of a solider, I really wanted to fall in love with the book. There was a line fairly early on in the book:
"Keep dogs and cats inside on the Fourth of July
but nothing of ex-servicemen."
This just hits hard. With just those limited words the author gives you a very innate understanding of PTSD which the protagonist clearly suffered from. Though the effectiveness of these lines got lost as the verse got more descriptive. The emotions, I felt, got lost in the long winding details. The descriptive over-powered the shift I was hoping to experience while reading this book. Between the advent of cinema and 'fall' of LA and all the other multiple storylines, I feel that the desired impact on the reader was lost.
"Keep dogs and cats inside on the Fourth of July
but nothing of ex-servicemen."
This just hits hard. With just those limited words the author gives you a very innate understanding of PTSD which the protagonist clearly suffered from. Though the effectiveness of these lines got lost as the verse got more descriptive. The emotions, I felt, got lost in the long winding details. The descriptive over-powered the shift I was hoping to experience while reading this book. Between the advent of cinema and 'fall' of LA and all the other multiple storylines, I feel that the desired impact on the reader was lost.