“In the 1990s, poems existed for me in books and in my brain and then maybe you could read them aloud to make someone fall in love with you, but that was it. These days, poetry happens on the internet.”
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions racism, sexism, sexual assault
This is the type of non-fiction book I love. The ones with personal narrators that know they don’t have everything figured out. The ones with narrators that are willing to ask questions and don’t seem afraid to make mistakes.
I didn’t love how the narrator assumed we were all in or from the United States, but I also get it, I guess? They’re writing for their demographic, their usual readers. Too bad I’m not in or from the US. Also, I didn’t like the criticism to Kaur… it felt kind of condescending at parts but to each their own.
Something I did love, tho, was how diverse the poetry verses used as examples were. The author really did quote everything from Walt Whitman and Shakespeare to the poem read in 10 Things I Hate About You, a movie that’s a cult classic at this point.
I would recommend this book to all poetry lovers that are into nonfiction, but also to everyone who’s even remotely interested in poetry. This is NOT a poetry book. It’s a book about poetry (and there are a few poetry verses here and there, but that’s it).
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ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
“The grief is not finished but the poem is. The art of losing this beloved is impossible to master, but still, you go through your motions, you make your rhymes, you complete your stanza, you finish the poem because that is all there is to do. The beloved is gone but the poetry remains. And that will have to be enough (Write it!) for now.”
andrea's galley 