About the Author

Alicia Suskin Ostriker is a major American poet and critic. She is the author of numerous poetry collections, including, most recently, The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog; The Book of Life: Selected Jewish Poems, 1979–2011; and The Book of Seventy, wi

Reviews

[A] wonderful collection . . . The poems in 'The Book of Life' may be familiar to her regular readers, having been published in other collections, but the selection in this volume strikes a rich and resonant chord, simultaneously and inextricably female and feminist, Jewish and American.-- "Womenis Review of Books"

A milestone volume that readers of Jewish poetry will reference, and revel in, for years to come. While Ostriker's contribution to the poetry world in the past decades has been invaluable, her contribution to the realm of Jewish poetry specifically has been absolutely formative. Her experiments with Midrashic poetry, riffs on Psalms, liturgy, usage of these sources to explore personal questions of faith, gender, and family are simply tremendous.-- "The Forward"

Her voice is by turns bitter, lyrical, cajoling, ironic, her quarrel is a prophet's quarrel with a divine presence . . .-- "Rodger Kamenetz, on the volcano sequence"

In the preface . . . Ostriker refers to 'the umbilicus of hope.' She has a knack for such unexpected and powerful turns of phrase, and said cord stretches across this book.-- "Jewish Book World"

Like many Jews, in and out of the synagogue, I wrestle with sacred tradition like Jacob wrestling the angel. The poems gathered here were born of this wrestling, which can never be over.-- "from the Preface"

Reads like a collection of memories tinged with Scripture, song, and allusion. . . An assortment of powerful moments that make the whole a worthwhile read. . . 'The Book of Life' conveys the strength and endurance of its writer, of her tradition, and of the relentless hope and bafflement of which she is an heir.-- "Pleiades"