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kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Title: You Could Make This Place Beautiful
Author: Maggie Smith
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: April 11, 2023
T H R E E β’ W O R D S
Poignant β’ Intimate β’ Poetic
π S Y N O P S I S
In her memoir, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one womanβs personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes.
π T H O U G H T S
I'd previously read Keep Moving and appreciated Maggie Smith's style of writing and sense of encouragement, so it was easy to add her most recent release to my TBR with the hope of having a similar reading experience.
Written in verse, each vignettes presents a comprehensive picture along with beautiful imagery and metaphor. The writing is superb! There is a lot of strength, inspiration, and relatability in Maggie's words. Her self-awareness shines on the page as she navigates the journey of rediscovering herself. Despite all of this, the content has me puzzled and questioning the reasoning behind publishing this exact work. At times it felt forced and there is a lot of repetition. This doesn't happened often with memoirs, but I did start to lose interest in what she was telling.
There is no denying the quality of penmanship within You Could Make This Place Beautiful however, I never felt fully invested in what Maggie Smith was selling this time around. I certainly hope it was a healing and therapeutic experience for her to put these words out into the world and I do look forward to future writing from her.
π R E A D β’ I F β’ Y O U β’ L I K E
β’ Maggie Smith's writing
β’ vague truths
β οΈ CW: infidelity, abandonment, toxic relationship, pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, mental illness, post-partum depression, grief, medical content, blood, divorce, emotional abuse, gaslighting, misogyny, sexism, pandemic/epidemic
π F A V O U R I T E β’ Q U O T E S
"Where there had been a future, or at least the promise of one, there was now an ellipses."
"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final."
"When you lose someone you love, you start to look for new ways to understand the world."
"Life, like a poem, is a series of choices."
Author: Maggie Smith
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: April 11, 2023
T H R E E β’ W O R D S
Poignant β’ Intimate β’ Poetic
π S Y N O P S I S
In her memoir, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one womanβs personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes.
π T H O U G H T S
I'd previously read Keep Moving and appreciated Maggie Smith's style of writing and sense of encouragement, so it was easy to add her most recent release to my TBR with the hope of having a similar reading experience.
Written in verse, each vignettes presents a comprehensive picture along with beautiful imagery and metaphor. The writing is superb! There is a lot of strength, inspiration, and relatability in Maggie's words. Her self-awareness shines on the page as she navigates the journey of rediscovering herself. Despite all of this, the content has me puzzled and questioning the reasoning behind publishing this exact work. At times it felt forced and there is a lot of repetition. This doesn't happened often with memoirs, but I did start to lose interest in what she was telling.
There is no denying the quality of penmanship within You Could Make This Place Beautiful however, I never felt fully invested in what Maggie Smith was selling this time around. I certainly hope it was a healing and therapeutic experience for her to put these words out into the world and I do look forward to future writing from her.
π R E A D β’ I F β’ Y O U β’ L I K E
β’ Maggie Smith's writing
β’ vague truths
β οΈ CW: infidelity, abandonment, toxic relationship, pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, mental illness, post-partum depression, grief, medical content, blood, divorce, emotional abuse, gaslighting, misogyny, sexism, pandemic/epidemic
π F A V O U R I T E β’ Q U O T E S
"Where there had been a future, or at least the promise of one, there was now an ellipses."
"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final."
"When you lose someone you love, you start to look for new ways to understand the world."
"Life, like a poem, is a series of choices."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
post-partum depression, divorceatamano's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
greenwillow77's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Blood
alexstartsthings's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, and Abandonment
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Mass/school shootings
elderwoodreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
My main criticism of this book is that Smith spends a lot of time setting boundaries with the reader about her story, specifically around her kids, yet she tells a very vulnerable story about her son at one point. where he says he does not feel like has a family
Past that I think this was a great reflective work and story of both a marriage and a divorce. I will be seeking out more of Smith's work later.
Past that I think this was a great reflective work and story of both a marriage and a divorce. I will be seeking out more of Smith's work later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol