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mdarceyhall's review
3.0
Gorman has a great talent for playing with rhythm and homophones, and I appreciated the relevant subject matter. As a personal preference, though, I prefer poetry with more sensory details and abstract imagery rather than a conversational voice.
mayzinminthu's review
4.0
Changing to a four star because there was definitely some skips in the book, but overall so truthful, so genuine, and so incredibly real.
specialk136's review
Poetry just isn't my jam, so I'm not sure how I would rate this book of poems by Amanda Gorman. What I will say is that I love her wordplay, she taught me things I didn't know, and she made me think. I enjoyed many of them. The book is a collection of poems about the COVID pandemic and all the fallout from it (including a section in colored black pages covering the summer of the George Floyd killing). She plays around with form and structure - one poem is in the shape of a mask. It ends with her triumph The Hill We Climb that she recited at Joe Biden's inauguration after the tumult of January 6. It took me a long time to get through it, but I'm glad I read it!
shannonscotteditorauthor's review
4.0
Some really touching poems in this book. Some I expected to be, others that took my breath away.
kelly_inthe419's review
5.0
Like most of America, my introduction to Amanda Gorman was during the 2021 presidential inauguration. That poem, titled in The Hill We Climb, is included this collection.
Gorman’s talents are remarkable and she has overcome barriers to arrive at this level of success. Her poems range from the isolation of the pandemic to racism and racial injustice to a poem crafted from an actual survey of migrants to Chicago in the early 1900s.
I loved listening to her speak her words with the her unique delivery and cadence. In reading reviews, however, I learned that physical book includes poems that are structured in columns or other images that you don’t get listening to the poems.
I still highly recommend the audiobook version where Gorman herself can best project the rhythm of her craft.
Gorman’s talents are remarkable and she has overcome barriers to arrive at this level of success. Her poems range from the isolation of the pandemic to racism and racial injustice to a poem crafted from an actual survey of migrants to Chicago in the early 1900s.
I loved listening to her speak her words with the her unique delivery and cadence. In reading reviews, however, I learned that physical book includes poems that are structured in columns or other images that you don’t get listening to the poems.
I still highly recommend the audiobook version where Gorman herself can best project the rhythm of her craft.
alishalnixon's review
4.0
Well this book was a journey. Started out a little bit unsure if I could read an entire book of poems about the dirge of Covid. But I kept on, and found a lot of insightful memories, historical connections (the letter from the nurse in 1918, I loved), a timeline that moved me, a recounting of everything ELSE that happened in 2020-2021, and a call to hope, growth, rebirth. A reminder of what we are giving to our children, a place better than we found it. And the lines for which the book was titled are the real gold nuggets. Anyone who has ever grieved a loved one, this is for you.
hjswinford's review
5.0
Just...incredible.
"We continue speaking, writing, hoping, living, loving, fighting. That is to say, we believe beyond disaster."
When decades have past and we need to look back and remember what 2020-2022 was like, this will be a priceless resource, facts and events bathed in poetic emotion. Just amazing.
"We continue speaking, writing, hoping, living, loving, fighting. That is to say, we believe beyond disaster."
When decades have past and we need to look back and remember what 2020-2022 was like, this will be a priceless resource, facts and events bathed in poetic emotion. Just amazing.