Razvan Luscov

5 stars mostly because this is the first book of poetry which I genuinely loved and which convinced me to write poetry myself. Only after I read this I took on the pursuit of tracking down all the influences that Cărtărescu names himself in his poems: from modernism and avant-garde (Ilarie Voronca, Gellu Naum, but also Eluard, Pound, Eliot, Ginsberg etc.) to the big classics (such as Shakespeare and - a big influence in spite of what some think looking only at the surface of the poems - Eminescu). My long-length poetic adventure has not finished (and probably won't any soon), but I am already less convinced by these poems. Too much fireworks and not enough substance... which is kinda ironic for me to say, as I must admit that a lot of Cărtărescu's influence has went down in my writing and will probably remain so for a long while - for the very good reason that quite many of these poems still go up my alley, in spite of or even because of all the flaws. Not enough for a 5 stars rating, but the sentimental value makes up for it.… (más)