hedleyreads's review
5.0
Wonderful
I loved this book of poetry. I loved When I was a boy, which I read to my y6 kids. I also really enjoyed miss berry, how children are rolled across the gym mats like coloured marbles. I felt moved by my mothers wedding shoes and grasshopper warbler.
I loved this book of poetry. I loved When I was a boy, which I read to my y6 kids. I also really enjoyed miss berry, how children are rolled across the gym mats like coloured marbles. I felt moved by my mothers wedding shoes and grasshopper warbler.
toniapeckover's review against another edition
4.0
This year I'm following the trail of women poets whose work reach out to me. I had to look hard to find Liz Berry's books for sale here in the States but I am so glad I did. She writes of her own place and experience of the Black Country in (I believe) the West Midlands area of England. The dialect in many of the poems is ferocious (there are helpful translations) and strange to my ears, but the working class world and the longings of a young woman growing up within it are easily recognizable and relatable. (Whenever she writes of love or children, there is so much longing and tenderness it almost takes your breath away.) Tucked in to the harshness of coal mines, bodies ruined by work, and the vice of social shame, there's a bend toward the mythical and the natural world, which I love.
Bird
"I shed my nightdress to the drowning arms of the dark,
my shoes to the sun's widening mouth.
Bared,
I found my bones hollowing to slender pipes,
my shoulder blades tufting down.
I spread my flight-greedy arms....."
Bird
"I shed my nightdress to the drowning arms of the dark,
my shoes to the sun's widening mouth.
Bared,
I found my bones hollowing to slender pipes,
my shoulder blades tufting down.
I spread my flight-greedy arms....."
leanneymu's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Absolutely beautiful poetry - I will be re-reading this often!
marjma2014's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars.
Trying to read some poetry to broaden my reading experience, particularly as I am now writing haikus on my blog. This is an excellent book of poems can see why it won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2014. It is a Brave New Reads choice: www.bravenewreads.org.uk. Highly recommended.
Trying to read some poetry to broaden my reading experience, particularly as I am now writing haikus on my blog. This is an excellent book of poems can see why it won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2014. It is a Brave New Reads choice: www.bravenewreads.org.uk. Highly recommended.
elizabethkemball's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful and nostalgic
A wonderfully written and varied collection of poems, with themes of love, magic, romance and strong sense of place. A really refreshingly strong poetic voice.
A wonderfully written and varied collection of poems, with themes of love, magic, romance and strong sense of place. A really refreshingly strong poetic voice.
elizabethkemball's review
4.0
Beautiful and nostalgic
A wonderfully written and varied collection of poems, with themes of love, magic, romance and strong sense of place. A really refreshingly strong poetic voice.
A wonderfully written and varied collection of poems, with themes of love, magic, romance and strong sense of place. A really refreshingly strong poetic voice.
rmaclean's review
4.0
I don't read a lot of poetry. I love listening to Liz Berry so I thought I would take a stab at reading her. I thought I would read one or two poems at a time, but I ended up reading the entire collections in one sitting. Her poems for her father and her mother were the most moving for me. She is able to conjure up such a clear image of where she was raised.
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