Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

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

30 reviews

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

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

As a whole, it’s a 4.5 star collection with some outstanding 5+ star poems. 

I loved how she tackled the themes of girlhood and womanhood, experiences of being a refugee and immigrant, grief, trauma, celebrations of life, death, family, and more. Each of the four sections offered something unique to the stories she was telling. 

There are some really heavy subjects/topics and references in this collection, so be aware. 
CW: FGM and gender violence, child abuse and death, rape, death, eating disorders, famine, war and racism, and others.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Grief, and War

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

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

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

jayisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I was excited when I heard that Warsan Shire was publishing a new collection of poems. I enjoyed Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and the themes that she covered. Not surprisingly, the themes that came up in her new collection were just as thought-provoking and haunting, exploring girlhood/womanhood, borders (both personal and political), faith, among others.

That said, something about these poems didn’t quite land the same way that her earlier poems did. The poems didn’t read as cohesive as a whole and, even within their sections, seemed a little scattered.

What I do love about Shire’s writing is how multisensorial her poems are, making for a unique experience any time you read anything by her. This was certainly the case in this collection, even if the poems didn’t have the same impact as her previous works did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, and War

ashlynnoel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Abortion

Minor: War

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

deedireads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head is a masterful collection of poems by a master poet on womanhood, trauma, and the refugee experience. They’re heavy, but hard-hitting and moving.

For you if: You want to read poetry that adds to your view of the world and humanity.

FULL REVIEW:

Thank you, Random House, for the advanced electronic copy of this book! It’s the first full-length poetry collection from Warsan Shire, the award-winning Somali British poet who worked with Beyonce on Lemonade and Black is King. So yes, it’s as good as you’re expecting.

The poems draw from her own experiences, loved ones’ experiences, headlines, etc. to shape a journey through womanhood, motherhood, daughterhood, being a refugee and immigrant, abuse, trauma, and defiant hope.

I feel like I need to reread this to get the full effect, but I was especially impressed with how Shire merges pop culture and poetry to make the collection feel not only modern but current and timely. She has something to say here, and you’re certainly going to hear it. And, of course, there are lines and couplets and stanzas that come out of nowhere punch you in the gut.

It’s a quick read, but worth it if you are a fan of poetry (and maybe even if you’re not).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Grief