{"product_id":"playtime-9781911214373","title":"playtime","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e**WINNER OF THE POLARI PRIZE 2019**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Vivid, accessible and honest, sometimes uncomfortably so’ Alan Bennett, \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn these intimate, sometimes painfully frank poems, Andrew McMillan takes us back to childhood and early adolescence to explore the different ways we grow into our sexual selves and our adult identities. Examining our teenage rites of passage: those dilemmas and traumas that shape us – eating disorders, masturbation, loss of virginity – the poet examines how we use bodies, both our own and other people’s, to chart our progress towards selfhood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMcMillan’s award-winning debut collection, physical, was praised for a poetry that was tight and powerful, raw and tender, and playtime expands that narrative frame and widens the gaze. Alongside poems in praise of the naivety of youth, there are those that explore the troubling intersections of violence, masculinity, class and sexuality, always taking the reader with them towards a better understanding of our own physicality. ‘isn’t this what human kind was made for’, McMillan asks in one poem, ‘telling stories learning where the skin\/is most in need of touch’. These humane and vital poems are confessions, both in the spiritual and personal sense; they tell us stories that some of us, perhaps, have never found the courage to read before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[\u003cb\u003eAn\u003c\/b\u003e]\u003cb\u003e equally page-turning second collection\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e… \u003c\/i\u003eMcMillan is 30, but writes with the melancholy understatement for an older writer… McMillan’s pared-back style puts great weight on each word, often with \u003cb\u003emagnetic \u003c\/b\u003eresults… McMillan wears his influences on his sleeve – Thom Gunn, Sharon Olds’s explicit \u003ci\u003eOdes\u003c\/i\u003e, a flicker of \u003ci\u003eBook of Matches\u003c\/i\u003e-era Simon Armitage – yet brings them together in a voice that is confident, captivating and distinctly his own… \u003cb\u003eAny fans of \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e worrying how McMillan could top one of the most widely praised debuts of recent years should breathe a sigh of relief: \u003ci\u003eplaytime\u003c\/i\u003e may be a quieter collection, but it’s a deeper, richer one too.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Tristram Fane Saunders * Telegraph **Poetry Book of the Month** *\u003cbr\u003eAndrew McMillan’s second collection, \u003ci\u003eplaytime\u003c\/i\u003e, is \u003cb\u003eevery bit as impressive as his first\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e… He seems attuned to the world around him and he has a sly sense of humour at his command. He is \u003cb\u003emore than promising\u003c\/b\u003e now. -- Paul Bailey * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003e[In \u003ci\u003eplaytime\u003c\/i\u003e] McMillan makes it clear that the poetics of \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e wasn’t a one-off. As with all the best second outings, this collection firmly establishes his patent… [\u003cb\u003ea\u003c\/b\u003e]\u003cb\u003e fully realised, deeply humane collection\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Sarah Crown * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eMcMillan scrutinises the violent idealism of masculinity in monologues that are \u003cb\u003eboth tender and steely\u003c\/b\u003e…\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003etold with courage, invention and charm.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jeremy Noel-Tod * Sunday Times, **Books of the Year** *\u003cbr\u003eAndrew McMillan's award-winning debut collection, \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e, a raw and tender exploration of gay love and desire, heralded him as \u003cb\u003ea new force in contemporary poetry\u003c\/b\u003e. This, his second book, only cements that reputation... \u003cb\u003ethese poems are insightful, revealing, honest and brutally tender.\u003c\/b\u003e * attitude *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eplaytime\u003c\/i\u003e is admirably devoted to intimacies and it has a tenderness to it even in its most private of moments... \u003cb\u003eThis is a triumphant collection of poems.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Elaine Cosgrove * Totally Dublin *\u003cbr\u003eBy returning to familiar ground and deepening his engagement with it, McMillan makes clear that the poetics of \u003ci\u003ephysical\u003c\/i\u003e wasn’t a one-off. As with all the best second outings, this collection firmly establishes his patent… [a] fully realised, deeply humane collection. -- Sarah Crown * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eVivid, accessible and honest, sometimes uncomfortably so. -- Alan Bennett * London Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eAn unobstructed exploration of an important subject. McMillan is writing not only see-through but see-beyond poetry. -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48742604800343,"sku":"9781911214373","price":11.4,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781911214373.jpg?v=1720062104","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/playtime-9781911214373","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}