The whole hive thing could have been interesting, but the language here is at once too stylized and too flat to describe a world as sensuous as the world of bees. This sort of writing does not lie within Flynn's talent at all, and the world he creates gets unnecessarily complicated with the story of the Huber and Burnens characters. It's hard to keep track of who is speaking. Who is Huber? Who is Burnens? Who is a bee? I finally said who cares and gave up. I hope Flynn goes back to what he's good at (maybe better than anyone else) in his next book.


Disappointing   February 17, 2003
 4 out of 14 found this review helpful

After reading Nick Flynn's debut collection, I was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it's unreadable and fiddles around with the language too much. If you haven't already, get his wonderful "Some Ether" instead.


uh oh   February 11, 2003
 0 out of 11 found this review helpful

...this book desperately needs to go play in traffic...


Poetry as guidebook   February 4, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Nick Flynn's "Blind Huber" masterfully, with patience and discipline, achieves what few other poets are able to do: the book-length, extended metaphor. Not since Louise Gluck's "The Wild Iris" have I sunk so deeply into a vision of the world conjured through sustained imagery. Here, as he fashions a series of poems from the perspective of bee-keepers, worker bees, foragers, and the Queen herself, Flynn builds a linguistic world around the reader like a hive.


Spectacular   January 23, 2003
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Nick Flynn blows me away. It's a cliche, but still true. Brittle, but still highly emotional. Between Blind Huber and Some Ether, Flynn is building as impressive a library as any poet working today. This time through watch him as he tangles with the same themes as his first book, but through the prism of bee keeping and bee society. Just dandy.