Reviews with content warning for Rape - What Kind of Woman: Poems

This is a must read for any woman (and/or any reader who wishes to crawl into the mind and heart of a woman). Baer delves into the depths of what it means to be a woman, a wife, a mother, and a human being in a world where it is sometimes hard to be even one of those things, let alone all of them. It is achingly honest, beautifully written, and blissfully approachable.

This book is proof that beautiful craft and language need not be pretentious – there were gorgeous lyrics and rhythms in this collection, with masterfully used images, yet it is easy to read and understand at any (adult) reading level.

The ONLY reason I’ve rated it at 4.5 instead of a full 5 stars is for the simple fact that I am neither a wife nor a mother, and that is a considerable portion of the subject matter of this book. I still greatly enjoyed reading those poems, and can emphasize with those situations; however, since I cannot claim either of those titles, some of the poems in this book lost a little bit of their relatability to me personally. Again, completely circumstantial, nothing wrong with those palms in particular, but it was not a fully-five-star-resonant-to-me book given I do not have a spouse or children of my own. (I believe that even if you're in my same position, you will still enjoy this collection just as I have. I also believe if you have a spouse and/or children, this poetry collection will mean that much more to you.

Very happy with my first read of 2021.

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gracew's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-paced

2.5

I'm not sure what I don't love about this other than that it just isn't my particular brand of poetry. It's not inherently bad but the style isn't for me and most of it is a little too on the nose for me. There were a handful that were fantastic but most of them were just so-so. I think it is probably the structure of the poems themselves that I found off-putting.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0

Kate Baer's poetry is phenomenal. I read this in one sitting and I want to tell every woman I know to read this book--but also everyone else too. There are lines from this collection that will stay with me forever.

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