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thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
This book, especially the poem, "I was born in a great length of river", helped remind me that despite all of my trauma, I will never know what it's like to drown. Akwaeke Emezi is truly such an inspiring and powerful author, I highly recommend everyone to read their work!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
starrysteph's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.25
beautiful. chilling.
CW: rape, self harm, suicide, child abuse, emotional & physical abuse, homophobia, transphobia, death, blood, violence, cannibalism, medical trauma
CW: rape, self harm, suicide, child abuse, emotional & physical abuse, homophobia, transphobia, death, blood, violence, cannibalism, medical trauma
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma
honeyvoiced's review
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Biphobia
clara_mai's review against another edition
3.0
I love Akwaeke Emezi's novels Freshwater and The Death of Vivek Oji and their memoir Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, not least due to their stunning writing and vivid imagery, so my expectations for their poetry collection were quite high. After reading all the poems in this book I can say that generally, I enjoy the concept of the collection, particularly the series of poems in which the lyrical self is related to the holy family (mary, jesus, joseph, magdalene all appear), more than the actual pieces. Having read their memoir, most of the content of this collection, which is as far as I understand mostly autobiographical, is familiar. I once again felt a deep admiration for Emezi while reading, because they express their identity as well as their traumatic experiences so boldly through art. At the same time, while I found individual lines and images to be striking, many of the poems left me without any particular feeling or a lasting impression. Others that dealt very explicitly with heavy content did certainly leave an impression because of said content but the writing, the poetic technique didn't really. Exceptions for me are self-portrait as an abuser, which is masterfully crafted and extremely effective and the first and last poem of the collection (both part of the "holy family cycle"). All in all this is good, but I would rather recommend Emezi's prose if you've never read anything by them. Lastly, I want to add that I'm really no expert when it comes to poetry, as I don't really write it myself and haven't thoroughly studied it (especially not in English) or even read much of it. This is all just a very subjective take of my experience reading this collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail
softanimal's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Toxic relationship
emabelle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
caidyn's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
4.5
Poetry isn't a favorite of mine, but the second I heard Emezi wrote one I had to buy it. There were poems in this that gave me such chills. It's a beautiful followup to their memoir. Highly recommend this short collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
bookiecharm's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Cannibalism
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
“i remembered how to be a god i give myself what i want no one raises their voice in my house no one lays their fleshy hands on me no one is cruel if they are fool enough to try then they die and what a death what a death to not be loved by me anymore” — from “Disclosure”
TITLE—Content Warning: Everything
AUTHOR—Akwaeke Emezi
PUBLISHED—2022
GENRE—poetry
SETTING—liminal spaces
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—godhood, the [extended] holy family, love, violence, healing, softness
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORIES—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—The references to the holy family were really impactful.
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“…i, poltergeist throw myself against a world one of us must break spiritbae says you don’t have a choice but to see true things… i, poltergeist with a life that matters, that matters to me” — from “When the Hurricane Comes the Men Protect Their Brothers”
Wow! Tbh even though I’ve read both Freshwater and Dear Senthuran I still wasn’t ready for the level of intimacy in these poems. It felt like looking directly into the sun. I read the whole thing twice in a row and when I went back to write down my favorite lines and notes I ended up reading it a third time.
I particularly appreciated how violence is conceptualized in these poems as extraphysical acts with extraphysical consequences. How cuts and breaks and slaps and blood all have an inseparable emotional and spiritual element. The grafting together of the body and the spirit is simultaneously holy and an abomination.
Emezi feeds their readers, starving for more of their work, the purest mana, each bite sweeter than the last. I’ll definitely be reading this over and over again. ☺️
“and i will finally look
like the terrible thing
i have always been”
— from “Self-Portrait as an Angel”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // brief mentions: rape, selfharm, sexual content (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- Everything else by Akwaeke Emezi
- Everyone Knows I Am A Haunting, by Shivanee Ramlochan
- Fort Red Border, by Kiki Petrosino
- Lucky Fish, and At the Drive-In Volcano, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
- Bless the Daughter Raised By A Voice in Her Head, by Warsan Shire
- The Collected Poetry of Audre Lorde
- Woman, Eat Me Whole: Poems, by Ama Asantewa Diaka—TBR
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Self harm, and Suicide
suzyreadsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
ahhhh the combo of reading this whole collection on pub day & then having the chance to immediately listen to Akwaeke Emezi explain some of their intentions & thought processes at a virtual book talk 🥹Such a wonderful, immersive reading experience!!!
After having read so much of their work, there’s a familiarity that travels across genres. This poetry collection is fiery and covers many difficult topics that you might be familiar with if you’ve read any of their other autobiographical work, but it also includes a distinct gentleness and an acknowledgment of the possibility of transformation.
While reading, I was struck by how religious this book was, with biblical references woven throughout. During the talk, Emezi spoke about how so much of who they are is deeply religious, speaking particularly about religion as ritual, religion as being an entity that is in service to a community rather than as a hierarchical relationship.
The “What If” poems, imagining Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as family friends, were some of my favorites, particularly “what if jesus was my big brother” and “what if mary auntie explained mortality”
I also loved the poems that were more dense blocks of text, which Emezi described as “a practice in releasing constraint.” esp the poem “disclosure”!!
other favorites: i was born in a great length of river, sanctuary, “but why did you feel you had to kill yourself, baby love?”
After having read so much of their work, there’s a familiarity that travels across genres. This poetry collection is fiery and covers many difficult topics that you might be familiar with if you’ve read any of their other autobiographical work, but it also includes a distinct gentleness and an acknowledgment of the possibility of transformation.
While reading, I was struck by how religious this book was, with biblical references woven throughout. During the talk, Emezi spoke about how so much of who they are is deeply religious, speaking particularly about religion as ritual, religion as being an entity that is in service to a community rather than as a hierarchical relationship.
The “What If” poems, imagining Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as family friends, were some of my favorites, particularly “what if jesus was my big brother” and “what if mary auntie explained mortality”
I also loved the poems that were more dense blocks of text, which Emezi described as “a practice in releasing constraint.” esp the poem “disclosure”!!
other favorites: i was born in a great length of river, sanctuary, “but why did you feel you had to kill yourself, baby love?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence