4 out of 4 stars
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Haunting and beautifully written, Paddle to Paddle, by Lois Chapin, is a collection of poetry that relays the story of an unnamed narrator’s life. Told through a mostly sequential series of poems, the book begins with the narrator’s childhood and the difficult homelife she endured. The poems then progress through her adolescence and adulthood. The narrator focuses on the many difficult experiences that occurred in her life and how those events shaped her future as a woman, mother, therapist, and daughter. Through the lens of the narrator, themes of child abuse, rape, parenthood, marriage, divorce, aging and family are all explored with unexpected depth given the short length of this literary work.
I thoroughly enjoy reading books that aim to break away from a standard, and Paddle to Paddle does exactly that. Marketed as a book of poetry, it would be more appropriate to label Chapin’s work as narrative poetry. Paddle to Paddle manages to tell a life story, complete with fully developed characters, settings, and events. The author’s ability to accomplish such a complete work in such a small number of words blew me away. After finishing this book, I was astonished to realize that I had read a mere fraction of the words found in an average-length novel, yet I felt a strong emotional connection to the narrator. Chapin’s writing perfectly illustrates that sometimes less is more. There is so much power in the conciseness of this book, and this power would most likely be lost if the story were told using a typical format.
Each poem is written using the narrator’s first-person perspective, allowing the writing to exude raw emotion. Further, each word appears to have been carefully selected to enhance the impact of the narrator’s story. For example, as a child, the narrator manages to intertwine her fears, hopes, and frustrations with the telling of events using only a few extra words. Similarly, the poems focused on the narrator’s struggles with control, a subtle theme found throughout the book, were realistic. From a young age, she has had no control over many aspects of her life. Her mother’s abuse, her inability to save her brother, her husband’s infidelity, her daughter’s substance abuse, and her body’s aging are just some examples of instances the narrator needed to be able to control but couldn’t. These topics are expertly woven into the story with articulate prose that highlights how badly the consistent lack of control has haunted the narrator’s life.
As the book progresses, an unfortunate disconnect begins to grow. The narrative takes on a new format at times, where the author opts for more words in-lieu of the stanza format used throughout. Additionally, a few of the later poems felt out of place, either because of subtle differences in the voice of the narrator or a lacking connection between the content and the overall story. Though the changes in voice and organization could indicate transformations of the narrator’s attitudes later in life, I found the variations hindered the flow of the story. At times, the narrative flow is regained, continuing in the same vein as the poetry found earlier in the book, but the instances of variation were too many to avoid pointing out.
Paddle to Paddle is an interesting book because it does not fit into a particular mold. Readers who enjoy free-verse poetry and readers who like literary fiction, especially as told from a female perspective, should give this book a chance. However, readers should be warned that Chapin includes mature themes dealing with abuse, rape, drug addiction, and infidelity, though none are described in graphic detail. Although it doesn’t conform to normal genre standards, Paddle to Paddle is an engaging, thought-provoking, and powerful read, which is why I rate it 4 out of 4 stars, despite some minor reservations.
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Paddle to Paddle
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