Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

33 reviews

kirstym25's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, and War

faduma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism

jdamae11's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

samanthatully's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault

venetiana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation

czidya's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

3.5

This collection was a mixed bag, but where it was good it was outstanding. Shire's writing is richly symbolic as it deals with challenging topics like abuse, misogyny, and the experiences of refugees. At times I found the imagery so dense it was impenetrable- unfortunately many of the poems left no impression on me at all because I couldn't really make sense of the verbal collage. However, Shire gets the balance right more often than not, creating lush emotional poems that share a fraught but profound relationship with God and religion, as the collection's title suggests.
My favorites of the collection:

• Filial Cannibalism
• Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle
• Bless the Camels
• Hooyo Full of Grace
• Joyride
• Backwards

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death and War

karis_dl's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

As always, Shire's poetry is evocative, powerful, and sincere. She is one of my favourite current feminist poets. I find here writing to be so insightful and so moving; it's one of those pieces you carry with you for a long time after you put the book down. This collection covers topics like Black womanhood, family, migration, trauma, resilience, belonging, and more. Shire writes about the tumultuous bodily experience of womanhood. She looks at the idea of home, boundaries, and bodies. Please go read this, but also do check for content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Xenophobia

lotte111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

booksandteatime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and War

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional

5.0

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head is one of my favorite poetry collections of this year ( maybe ever).
“Backwards” and “Bless this House” are two stand out poems for me, but there are plenty of incredible ones which will pull on your heart strings and never cease to amaze you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Xenophobia