the rumpus by andrew weatherhead
jacket magazine by c.s. perez
ourchart by
michelle tea
cutbank by
mike young
lime tree by
k. silem mohammad /
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econoculture by pete coco /
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miporadio by
william stobb /
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bookslut by aysha somasundaram
publisher's weekly by 'staff'
ULA review blog by
noah cicero /
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time out chicago by jeb gleason-allured /
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miporadio by william stobb
l magazine by dan feder /
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the great american pinup by geraldine kim
"When I started to read Tao's book, I said aloud, 'This is fucking great.' [...] I had to substitute-teach the last period that just ended for the other English teacher. It was a 10th grade creative writing class with three girls and two boys. We went over one student's horrendous poem that began "Why is life to complicating for me?" and then we had fifteen minutes left over (I don't really know these students, but the other English teacher said I could do what I want at the end) so I read some of Tao's poems, like "spring break" and others. Most of them think Tao is depressed but the smartest girl, and the best writer (from what I've heard) said, "I think he is hysterically funny." They all liked Tao's work. I think Tao can get rich just from going to schools and bars and reading his work. [...] I just re-read Tao Lin's book while sitting at the Soma Cafe drinking oolong tea and listening to Death Cab and other music. / When I finished the book, it was an hour later than I thought it would be because I got lost in the poetry. It's a beautiful book, exquisite in its sadness and deliberateness. I was thinking that Tao writes like John Ashbery if John Ashbery didn't know a lot of big words but I mean that in a good way, because Tao's work is so deceptively simple. He's got a style so distinctive that it's easily susceptible to parody, and I don't know any younger writers I can say that of (it's a really high compliment). The brilliance of Tao's work is that it is deeply depressed and depressing and very funny at the same time. As I said earlier, it's filled with the kind of poems that make the reader want to run to share them with other people, even tenth-graders. / Tao should be very proud of it." -
Richard Grayson
"
you are a little bit happier than i am has the energy and oddness of a thing that is rising very fast that is not supposed to be rising, or that is supposed to be rising but for a moment you forget that, and for a moment this ordinary thing looks very strange and exciting--sun, ball, airplane, tree. That is Tao Lin's poemish pieces." -
Deb Olin Unferth
"I'm in a hurry now but I just wanted you to know I read the whole MS straight through (not planning to at the time) and loved it. / I'll get back to you with more soon. [...] I accidentally read Tao Lin's table of contents as a poem; it's a hilarious poem and it hooked me right away. This is also how his poems work --they are aggressively mundane. But behind that aggressive pose those poems are real and free. And really funny. There's a confidence in them that not only undercuts their surface pose, but makes that pose something meaningful." -
Matthew Rohrer
"When I read Tao Lin's poetry, once I've stopped laughing the next thing I do is look around for someone else who I can show them to. So far I've shown them to most of my friends, and my mom. Now I have a whole little group of people to agree with me that Tao Lin is hilarious and brilliant." -
Rosie Sharp
"Tao Lin's poems are like the thoughts you have in your head on the really good day right after you have a really bad day and right before another bad day is about to happen." -
Shya Scanlon
"Blurb by Tao Lin about Tao Lin written by Todd Zuniga: I like my book of poems. I like salmon. I want the salmon to shake hands with the book, but I ate the salmon and now it's in my stomach, and my stomach has no fingers. The book is good, but I don't care. I want the book to punch the salmon in the face. Then I want the universe to punch itself in the face." -
Todd Zuniga
"Blurb by Todd Zuniga about Tao Lin: Tao Lin's poems are little cartoon grenades that blow up in your face. They don't kill you, but they'll shred your clothing. Plus, it's hell to get the gunpowder off." -
Todd Zuniga
"I have never read these poems. I have only heard them read, out loud, by Tao. As you read them silently to yourself, imagine them being read out loud in an terrifying, vaguely petulant monotone. Gradually this becomes hilarious and you will have to regard the poems as brilliant." -
Nick Antosca
"Tao's book makes me feel like indoor recess." -
Mallory Coppenrath
"Okay: you run out of plastic spoons and buy more because you hate whales. Going home through the city, you cut across the alley beside Starbucks and find yourself staring at three deer. They are nibbling at speed bumps. More arrive. This, what's happening, is the poetry of Tao Lin." -
Mike Young
"I just watched Swordfish on TBS, and read the poem 'Friday,' by Tao Lin. / I have not yet read
you are a little bit happier than i am, and am still considering an advanced purchase. / I told a friend about Tao Lin's poetry. She's an artist. She didn't really care. We used to date, but the sex was bad. / Tao Lin has written a blockbuster, maybe. / This book will incite rage in your heart, and you can physically hate it on your blog." -
Gene Morgan
"tao lin doesn't take direction or distraction. thank god. / tao lin is defeated. this book is an antidote to american can-do irony circa 2006. also to snakebites. / this book will not work against snakebites, but it's still good. / if i could write a 300-line blurb i'd sew it in needlepoint and staple it to the galleys and present it to tao with my cheeks all runny mascara in front of 50 people. / this book is as good as new socks." -
Clayton Banes
"Tao Lin wrote a book of poetry, I guess." -
Matthew Simmons
"Tao Lin's poems are like those people on television who only appear on camera all blurred out because they witnessed some horrible crime or they feel like they're in danger. You may act like you're not interested in paying attention to them but you can't look away. And when it's all over, you're left with a haunted feeling, wondering who the person is, and what they look like behind the blur." -
Kevin Sampsell
"I enjoyed it / I like that there soft lines juxtaposed next to terse ugly lines involving vacuums / He is like if Lorrie Moore and Charles Bukowski had sweet but dirty sex and had a little Tao baby / This book is like some things, but this blurb is not saying hi to me, and I'm going somwhere and someone has emailed and it a long email and this blurb is not saying hi to me so please leave me alone / There are no boat and sea poems in it. Which makes it better than 99.9 percent of poetry books that have come out since the Beatniks all died / You can tell he went to college but he doesn't know why / I am positive now that I will never have kids after reading his poetry book / The only critique I have of this poetry book is that Tao Lin is from Florida and there is no mention of Disney World" -
Noah Cicero
"These poems are short stories. The mind in them undergoes and studies its own sadness in a surreal, comical city with weather and food and movies and e-mail. Buy the book, read it, study two poems about writing, 'my favorite book of poetry right now' and the fearsome 'book reviews always praise books as life-affirming because the more humans there are in the world the better,' and skip your MFA." -
Valerie Trueblood
"I put Tao's ms. on a chair. That was the last time I saw it." -
Anne Boyer 
