The Boy | Literary Criticism & Book Review

The Boy Critical Overview

Squares and Courtyards has garnered considerable praise in the short time that it has been in publication. Reviewing the collection for The Progressive, Matthew Rothschild writes, "Elegant in form, casual and observational in style, these poems wrap themselves around large themes: death, friendship, parents' and children, Nazism, sex, nature, empire." Although the poems address emotionally heavy subjects, they are not anchored there. "What is redemptive here," Rothschild says, "is Hacker's devotion to words, friends, food, and nature." Ray Olson is similarly admiring in his review for Booklist. Olson zeroes in on Hacker's concern with death in the poems, claiming that the collection "is a book of midlife" that midlife poetry readers will especially appreciate. Olson lauds Hacker's keen skills of observation, noting, "how she and her peers react to the crises death imposes on them." In her review for Prairie Schooner, Esther Cameron also notes the prevalence of death...
(read more)