Reviews tagging 'Death'

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire

23 reviews

thewairimu's review against another edition

emotional informative fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism and Rape

Minor: Death, Drug use, Cancer, and Medical content

satanne's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Racism, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Suicide, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Death, Abortion, Rape, and Sexual assault

lady_bountiful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

ryliereadss's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

Warsan Shire writes about girlhood, family, and immigration in this poetry collection. I liked the poems about Hooyo, her mother. She also writes poems about death and women who have been murdered. I thought it was awesome that there was a glossary in the back of the book to make it more accessible. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death

krys_kilz's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.5

Julia Alvarez's review of this collection sums up my feelings: "This fierce and compelling book of poems should come with a warning label: These poems will break your heart."

My favorite poems in the collection were: Assimilation, Home, Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle, Backwards, Hooyo Isn’t Home, and Bless the Gun Tossed into a River. 

"Dear Uncle, is everything you love foreign
or are you foreign to everything you love?"

- from Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death, War, and Racism

Minor: Suicide and Eating disorder

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

 Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. It is the first full length poetry collection by this Somali British poet and reflects the realities of Black Muslim women from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, realities that include both great sorrow and great joy. I found it to a be really accessible collection and was at times blown away by the sheer power of Shire’s words. Home (well-known apparently but new to me) was a standout, succinctly and starkly explaining the reality of the decision to flee home and of being a refugee. Plenty of imagery from other poems grabbed my attention too - “…Amel’s hardened nipples push/through the paisley of her blouse, minarets/
calling men to worship.” Highly recommended, especially if you are looking for an accessible relevant contemporary collection.
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, War, Death, and Child abuse

jaiari12's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Child death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Blood, Miscarriage, Abortion, Cursing, and Pregnancy

melhara's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

3.5

This was a very well-rounded collection of melancholic poems that deals with themes of immigration, abuse, racism, and numerous other dark and sad themes.

As with most poetry collections, there were some poems that stood out to me more than others, including Assimilation; Drowning in Dawson's Creek; My Father, The Astronaut; and, Bless This House.

Here's a passage from Assimilation:

The refugee's heart often grows
an outer layer. An assimilation.
It cocoons the organ. Those unable to grow the extra skin
die within the first six months in a host country.

As much as I like listening to poetry via audiobook or reading it via ebook, I did have some difficulty navigating between the glossary at the end of the book and the poems (as there are many Somali words included in the poems).

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, and Death

kirstym25's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Grief, Cancer, and War

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Cancer, Alcoholism, Rape, and Pregnancy