eljaytacang's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
atelmari's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
leithd15's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
serendipitysbooks's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I struggled with How to Live. It’s a form of conversation with five “unsilent women” including Ban Zhao and George Eliot about how to live a good life. I found many of the poems hard to comprehend and they certainly challenged my view of poetry - many read more like extracts from non-fiction essays. I think they were just too abstract and cerebral for me. I felt I needed a literature professor to parse them and explain them to me before I could appreciate them. That’s totally on me. Minds more learned than mine awarded this collection New Zealand’s Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry in 2020.
emmamcilroy's review
3.0
I liked some of the poems, some weren’t really for me. Two I liked were ‘How to live through this’ and ‘Forks’.
More...