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becksusername's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Blood, Police brutality, and Lesbophobia
jayisreading's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This is a rather short collection of poems in which Jackie Kay explores transracial adoption and identity. This seems to be loosely based on Kay’s own life, having also been adopted by a white family in Scotland. The first part of the collection is told through three perspectives, each one following a particular typeface: the biracial daughter, the birth mother, and the adoptive mother. All three voices come together to reflect on how adoption impacted each of them, which inevitably reveals the complexities of familial relationships. I thought Kay approached all of this with incredible empathy.
I felt that the second part was a little weaker, only because it seemed less connected to the collection to, instead, focus a bit more broadly on Scottish life as a queer biracial woman. It was a little harder to parse out who was narrating and what the intentions were for most poems. I still found many of them thought-provoking, but again, I couldn’t quite figure out how any of it connected to the first part of the collection, which had a clearer message.
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicide and Kidnapping
sa_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
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