'
Parts of Us is an accessible work by an authoritative poet and represents an urban Australian landscape readers will have little difficulty relating to.'
Bookseller+Publisher, March 2010
'Its centrepiece is a sequence called Adelaide Lunch Sonnets … They are almost without exception superb: relaxed, chatty, full of the kind of graceful wisdom one would expect from a symposium. Most impressively, they display a formal mastery that should place Shapcott among the cream of formal Australian poets. … [a book] of graceful mastery.'
Weekend Australian,
27 March 2010
'
Parts of Us is witty, clever and thought-provoking. It is also deeply moving, a powerful testament to a life and an art. … a powerful anthology.'
Sydney Morning Herald, April 2010
'
Parts of Us moves with a steady, warm rhythm, seemingly born of wisdom, deliberation, and the vision of serenity. This is fine writing – lucid, lovely, and striking. Well-paced, the collection delivers in poem after poem. Shapcott is in fine form in this rewarding volume of poetry. As for Australian poetry, this is certainly a stand out publication of recent years. Shapcott’s technique is masterful and it feels very much as if what he says is something well worth saying – he has a rare gift.'
m/c reviews [online], 27 April 2010
'Shapcott has an eye on both pleasure and decay in the body and the world around him.'
West Australian, May 2010