Book Portfolio Quarter 3

The book I read for quarter three was "What Work Is" by Phillip Levine. This book was really good, and I didn't think I'd like it. It was made up of a bunch of poems, ranging from themes of God, working, trying gin for the first time, and growing up in general. I don't really know if there is one theme you can go with throughout the book because there really wasn't one. It seemed like there was a different theme in each poem, varying from life lessons learned and growing up.
The first few poems were about him working in industrial factories and about the work he had to do which consisted of him getting down and mixing such elements such as hydrochloric acids. The first few poems were really interesting to know what kind of work happened in factories like that. It also described in detail how hard some of the work was. The author used a lot of detail in all of the poems. Some of the poems were really confusing and you really couldn't tell if it was a man or a women talking because some of the poems were very confusing. Something that I noticed about this book is that some of it was placed in the time period of World War Two and it was hardly mentioned at all. It talked a tiny bit about the military draft, but he must not of gone. The book was really descriptive about trying stuff for the first time, like his experience with gin. They didn't know why everyone made such a big deal about it when it really wasn't that good.
The best poem in the whole book, in my opinion, was "What Work Is." I loved this poem, it really says so much within it's two pages. It describes waiting in a line for a job, just to be declined, and seeing someone who looks just like your brother, but who is really not. Then it describes the last time you saw him, bringing on a flood of emotions, and it ends with you didn't do the simplest task of hugging and kissing him because you just don't know What Work Is. This is simply the best poem in the entire book, and really caught my attention the most.
A lot of the poems were really kind of dull at first and then they got interesting, each of them telling a small story or fact of life in a page or so. They caught your attention at the end because it proved the purpose the author had for writing them. The poem "Facts" was also another really good one just stating facts about his life, and just random facts, which was really interesting, and comical.
I think the authors purpose for writing this book was to describe life in a way that is surrounded around his personal life stories. It was really good, and very interesting. There were a few god references and that is what the book ended up with was a poem about god. I think that the author didn't really do a good job making the theme pop out, so it was easy to see, but maybe that was the way it was supposed to be.
Overall this was a very good book.