athenaeloy's review against another edition
4.0
At times, the broken aspect of these poems becomes overwhelming, as you can only look to the back so many times before you've forgotten the start of the poem. In some ways, this is a reflection of lived experience through trauma; while trying to piece together a memory, you find yourself recollecting aspects tangentially related in an effort to guard yourself from the actual reality of the past.
dhiyanah's review
5.0
In a lot of ways, the collection reads as one poem as a whole - one journey inwards into memory and history and spaces/places. Romanized Arabic words weaved into the English, Suheir Hammad claims the multiplicity that makes her identity whole. Linguistically, the collection breaks borders and the sounds of words - English and Arabic - flow into each other like river streams meeting in a vast ocean. Reading these poems out loud made the music in them real.
lindsayb's review
3.0
I was about halfway through thinking I am just not the audience for this...then I found the glossary at the back. So I started over and the poems gelled. I do like the incorporation of the Arabic a lot, but the breadth of style and scope seemed rather limited. I continue to suffer from comparing everything to Zaatardiva.
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