Upstream: Selected Essays by the Award-Winning Poet Mary Oliver

Paquita F D’souza: “Upstream by Mary Oliver” is such an inspiring read. It’s a collection of essays by Mary Oliver the renown poet who leads her readers upstream and emphasises on the details of nature. She also shares about her friend Walt Whitman and the authors who have played a significant part in her world of literature. This could be my shortest review but yet I’m glad I chose to read this book.
My rating : 4/5 🌟

Leaving you with a few lines from this book:

“𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺. 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 - 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭...

India on Nov 09, 2023

E.H.: For anyone who loves Mary Oliver poems, you'll love this book too. For those who aren't familiar with Mary Oliver, Upstream is a great place to start.

United States on Nov 03, 2023

Bonnie L Atkinson: Loved these poems

United States on Sep 10, 2023

Phil Fitzpatrick: If you enjoy Mary Oliver’s poetry you will be happy with this book of prose. I read a paragraph or two each morning. Mary had to create her own childhood, and she certainly made lemonade.

United States on Aug 12, 2023

Lauren Nolan: I absolutely loved this book. It felt like Oliver was speaking directly to my soul with her beautiful words. She may be known for her poetry but I think it's her essays that are the true works of art.

Australia on Jul 17, 2023

M. Warden: Mary Oliver's wordcraft is masterful in its economy and grace. She has a way of conveying the profound so simply, without fuss yet with great skill. I treasured walking upstream with her through these essays, and savored every step.

The work received 4 stars instead of 5 only because, as a writer, I wished she had shared more about her writing life in this book. But what she did share was immensely gratifying. Every word has stayed with me.

United States on May 29, 2023

Karen Ili: Hermoso libro

Mexico on Jul 29, 2022

Mariela Garcia Jacome: Gran antología, Mary tiene una capacidad de ver al mundo que es maravillosa

Mexico on Jun 09, 2022

Katherine Cameron: I am a fan of Oliver's poetry. These essays seem like a grab bag from her file drawers, not a coherent series of ideas moving from one chapter to the next. Many writers do this as they near the end, selecting the "left-overs" that deserve a printing or a reprinting.

At one point in the book, Mary Oliver describes her enthusiastic approach to building (by her own hand) a small home, without the accompanying carpentry skills. Her description of the end result serves as a metaphor for this collection of essays. Individually, some are beautiful and worthy. Together, they don't build a structure that makes much sense to me.

I also take issue with Oliver's contention that artists must be totally devoted to their art, and not distracted by "social" demands. This is exactly the way entitled men have staked their claim as artists (or professors, or most other professions) for centuries. Their wives or sisters or daughters were expected to take care of daily needs of family and friends and cleaning and cooking while men devoted themselves to their "important" pursuits behind closed doors - not to be disturbed.

Somehow, so many women have managed to be true artists...

United States on Mar 11, 2022

Chaitanya Sethi: As someone who enjoys Mary Oliver's poetry, this book felt right up my alley. A collection of essays that value a connection with nature, paying attention to the minute, and stripping away the grandiose sense with which us humans walk this planet. You can tell by her essays that she's a poet. Even in the way she structures her sentences, there is a sparseness to it. I called upon that voice in my head to read the essays and I could feel the handiwork of a poet at play.

That said, it was a book of two halves. When it was good, such as the two essays - Swoon - where she talks of staying at a rented house and observing a spider catching a cricket, and Bird- where she describes her nursing of an injured gull, it was so wonderful to read that it made up for all the eccentric and somewhat boring lulls in the middle. The entire section where she muses over and critiques her favourite authors was, in my opinion, unnecessary.

But then you come across a paragraph like this -
“Sometimes the desire to be lost again, as long ago, comes over me like a vapor. With growth into adulthood, responsibilities claimed me, so many heavy coats. I didn’t choose them, I don’t fault...

India on Mar 26, 2021