playtime (Paperback)

[An] equally page-turning second collection… McMillan 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 magnetic results… McMillan wears his influences on his sleeve – Thom Gunn, Sharon Olds’s explicit Odes, a flicker of Book of Matches-era Simon Armitage – yet brings them together in a voice that is confident, captivating and distinctly his own… Any fans of physical worrying how McMillan could top one of the most widely praised debuts of recent years should breathe a sigh of relief: playtime may be a quieter collection, but it’s a deeper, richer one too. - Tristram Fane Saunders, Telegraph Poetry Book of the Month**

Andrew McMillan’s second collection, playtime, is every bit as impressive as his first, physical… He seems attuned to the world around him and he has a sly sense of humour at his command. He is more than promising now. - Paul Bailey, Literary Review

[In playtime] McMillan makes it clear that the poetics of physical 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

McMillan scrutinises the violent idealism of masculinity in monologues that are both tender and steely… told with courage, invention and charm. - Jeremy Noel-Tod, Sunday Times, Books of the Year**

Andrew McMillan's award-winning debut collection, physical, a raw and tender exploration of gay love and desire, heralded him as a new force in contemporary poetry. This, his second book, only cements that reputation... these poems are insightful, revealing, honest and brutally tender. - attitude

playtime is admirably devoted to intimacies and it has a tenderness to it even in its most private of moments... This is a triumphant collection of poems. - Elaine Cosgrove, Totally Dublin

By returning to familiar ground and deepening his engagement with it, McMillan makes clear that the poetics of physical 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

Vivid, accessible and honest, sometimes uncomfortably so. - Alan Bennett, London Review of Books

An unobstructed exploration of an important subject. McMillan is writing not only see-through but see-beyond poetry. - Kate Kellaway, Observer