Louise Glück’s Ararat is a raw and deeply personal collection, exploring grief, family, and the complicated ways we love—and fail to love—the people closest to us. Written in her signature stark and unsentimental style, these poems unravel a lifetime of familial relationships: the loss of a newborn sister, the quiet yet cutting rivalry with another, the early death of a father, and a mother left navigating a world shaped by absence.

What makes Ararat so powerful is its emotional restraint. Glück doesn’t dwell in sentimentality, yet her words cut deep. The collection also reflects on parenthood, as the narrator struggles to connect with her own child, mirroring the emotional distance she once felt from her father. This cyclical nature of loss, love, and misunderstanding is woven throughout, culminating in a quiet reckoning.

The book is framed by the repeated line, “Long ago, I was wounded.” By the time we reach the final poem, the narrator has gained a reluctant understanding of both her father and herself. It’s not a neat resolution—Glück never offers that—but it’s a moment of clarity that lingers long after the final page.

Despite its weighty themes, *Ararat* remains accessible, making it an excellent entry point for readers new to Glück’s work. If you appreciate poetry that explores grief with unflinching honesty, this collection is one to pick up.

Louise Glück's Ararat is a moving exploration of what happens when family and grief collide. Glück writes with clarity, holding a mirror to the state of her subject. The reader is a bystander to these recollections of tragedies, both internal and external.

As Gluck reflects on her relationship with her family, she crafts a series of devasting poems that reveal the tumultuous nature of feelings -- of love, of grief, of resentment -- and its effects. There is a cyclical quality to the poems as she not only writes as a daughter and a sister, but as a mother as well where she confronts her own role in perpetuating the very things she grew up resenting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3,25/5.
This is a new edition of Ararat, a poetry collection about family, loss and grief. Louise Glück has this great ability to reflect on her suffering. And doing so when it comes to family is not easy, there's such complexity in a family system and in generational trauma. She examines for instance sister dynamics, heterosexual marriage, or the place of a child and the love for your family you have to feel.
In Ararat, her writing is a bit different than her other two books that I have read (Averno and The Wild Iris). We depart from the usual mythological and religious figures (albeit not completely) to dive directly into the poetess’ very personal, intimate, life which brings this work closer to confessional poetry.
I admit, though, that I was not as enchanted by this collection as I was with Averno. For me, something was missing in the writing, although it feels a bit weird to say I felt underwhelmed considering the subject matter. Perhaps the bitterness emerging from the poems prevented me from engaging with the poetess' other emotions?

My favourite poems were: "New World", "Brown Circle", “Mirror Image”, “First Memory”.

Incredible work for the daughter of the inventor of the x-acto knife, a man whose ghost haunts these very poems. A collection of poetry analyzing Glück's lonely formative years and her distant relationships with her parents through the use of stark imagery, "Ararat" is a true work of art.

Ararat, originally published in 1922, still feels as angry and fierce and heart-wrenching as ever. In it, Glück excavates her relationship with her parents and siblings, offering honest and raw takes on child death, depression, jealousy, and grief. The poems collected here are striking for their intimacy and persistent, unapologetic tone. For those who haven't read Glück before, this is an immersive way to experience the poet.

Great and classic Gluck! Happy this is getting republished and more people will get a chance to read.

This was a very interesting collection. I found there to be a story in each piece that was beautiful. Something to find in each piece.

This is a very beautiful set of poems. Some sad some in between sadness and happiness. Loved the book and it was amazing how much I have to.agree on a lot of her poems. Its worth reading and is recommended.

I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review

Rereading First Memory still struck my heart. Ararat contains a beautiful collection of poems that would resonate with women, most of all, the eldest who felt unloved right from the cradle. I love this new cover for the edition published by FSG books. It is exquisite.

To the best of my knowledge, I've never read the author before. (Nor did I know this was a reissue of an older collection.) Going in with no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and, more importantly, clarity of the author's voice. These are very intimate, very interior musings on her life and her familial relationships, thoughts on aging and getting to know oneself more, etc. A very strong confessional quality here, but it created for a compelling look inside a life in a pleasingly unpretentious style. I liked it more than I do most modern poetry.

A veces, encuentro su economía del lenguaje un alivio bienvenido en contraste con la poesía que tiendo a leer; otras veces, pienso que ese truco funciona como un conejo en el sombrero del que ella depende demasiado. Me encanta el concepto, pero sentí que caía en clichés en ocasiones, y me cuesta creerlo.

For a few years I'm dappling here and there into poetry to find that gems that I like. I had some hits and misses but I think I start to get a feeling for the ones that could be my cup of tea.

So I first want to thank you to get the chance to read something by Louise Glück of whom I had an inkling that it could be that kind of poetry I could enjoy even if I cannot relate to absolutely every theme of the poems.

And I am very happy to tell that I was right. It was a fast and slow read at the same time because I was impacted by the grief and joy of the individual poems. Even as I haven't had that kind of loss Glück had I could relate to the feelings she transported because I could transfer it to other losses and feelings of "I don't know how we should continue after this".

I liked the melody of the poems very much and can imagine to buy a copy for myself so that I can reread and annotate the ones that I liked the most (I think "Fantasy" is one of them and ones of the later ones).

Ararat is just one of many collections by Louise Glück and I will happily read more by Glück!

A painful, yet beautiful depiction of grief. Glück writes so sharply about a short time in her life when the relationships with her mother and sister were fraught.

Louise Glück's Ararat is a masterpiece in deconstructing the typical nuclear family. 'Animals,' a poem that cuts to the heart of the collection, contains one of my singular favourite lines: "You should only hurt/something you can give/your whole heart to." Doesn't that say it all? I'm excited that this collection will be re-released with a beautiful cover. If you want to read about the intricacies of human life, the insecurities and flaws and the twisted dynamics any typical family will have-- while also grappling with how to live and raise others-- you should read Ararat. Glück's work is a masterpiece.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this edition.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishing house for sending me and allowing me to read this e-arc. I have never read from this author before but I seen there was many versions of these poems. I really enjoyed the family aspect of them. Each poem was curated to a specific topic and they were wrote beautifully. I don't rate many poetry books 5 stars or even rate them at all but I really liked this one. I 100% recommend this. You wont regret it.

"Ararat" is a beautifully crafted collection that delves into the complexities of familial connections with the perfect balance of a sober, critical eye and an open, beating heart. These are the stories of someone who understands that love often includes pain. To truly love the people closest to us is to know that they are often the best at breaking our hearts, and Gluck demonstrates that in every line of prose.

This is an excellent poetry selection. Gluck gives us an intimate look at her family and their dynamics between her and her mother, father, and sisters. There is a lot of sadness, but it is so raw and beautiful.

When I picked up “Ararat” for the first time, I had zero background on Gluck or her previous, or, rather, current, works. My proclivities stray towards works of fiction, science-fiction, or fantasy, depending upon how removed from my environment I feel like at that crucial moment between deciding to read and narrowing down my ever-rickety stack of books. It came as no surprise that a collection of poems deep-routed in trauma, loss, and familial strife struck a chord. Who doesn’t have some neglected part of oneself only brought to the surface by unwittingly emotional verses? Immediately, I knew Gluck’s unsubtle snapshots of an ordinary American family’s generational (predominantly female) wounds would stay with me long after I finished. Gluck’s curt sentences pack a punch stronger than other meandering prose attempting to dive into a woman’s psyche. Her exploration and digestion of her relationships call the reader to examine their own, pry into their memories, and explore feelings long since forgotten. It would be injudicious to say this was an easy or comforting thing to read. Rather, it is because of the discomfort I recommend it. What is art without emotion? Gluck made me feel, and that is praise not bestowed frequently.

Most of these poems revolve around the figure of the mother and the concept of family. They are not easy or happy poems, but they are certainly beautiful.

La maggior parte di queste poesie ruota intorno alla figura della madre e del concetto di famiglia. Non sono poesie facili né felici, ma sicuramente sono belle.

I received a digital advanced review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.