rcsreads's review
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Slavery
boomarth's review
4.0
3.5
this had some great poems and some more mediocre. my favourites were fatherless nations and key to the city.
i hope atta will release another poetry collection soon bc I'd love to read more
this had some great poems and some more mediocre. my favourites were fatherless nations and key to the city.
i hope atta will release another poetry collection soon bc I'd love to read more
ellejaoy's review against another edition
5.0
Rhythmic, fantastic and truly mesmerising. I could go on and on about just how great this poetry book is but I don't want to babble so I'll just tell you to just give it a chance. Admittedly I enjoyed Atta's poetry more when he stuck to social commentaries and he lost me a little with the forlorn personal stuff near the end but there is no doubt that Atta is a truly talented writer and I would adore to see him read some of his work as I can only imagine how much better that would be.
Definitely take a chance on this one!
Definitely take a chance on this one!
mugren's review
4.0
Truthful poems that are witty and creative, and quite a few of us can relate to.
dariamerr's review
I really liked the first half of the book. The poems tackled race and standing up in front of injustice which is very actual, also ways of expression and the importance and pain of writing. The writing style was also nice – saying that as someone who isn’t really into modern poetry – but the messages were the ones that hit me.
Some of my favorite poems were: Revolution, Therapy, Paper Cuts, Key to the City, Ego Extensions.
Then the second half was love poems. Which are not my favorites to begin with. But there were poems about one night stands and a lot of relationship toxicity, which kinda bothered me. I mean, if you realize your toxic and you only get into relationships with people to make yourself feel better and then dispose of them, don’t make it grand through poetry. If you’re going to talk about your flaws in poems, make me feel the wrongness of it, make it ugly. Don’t sugar-coat it and dress it in beautiful words, because there’s nothing beautiful or endearing about it. (Here I sound much more frustrated than I actually am on this matter, I don’t know why it came out this way.)
Of course, this is a personal thing since I’m very picky when it comes to love poems. This is how I interpreted some of them, which doesn’t mean I’m right. This is what I love most about poetry, everyone can understand what they want and no side is wrong.
In conclusion, this is a good choice if you want to pick up some poetry and it fits pretty well with current events. I’m just not really into love poems. That’s who I am as a person.
Some of my favorite poems were: Revolution, Therapy, Paper Cuts, Key to the City, Ego Extensions.
Then the second half was love poems. Which are not my favorites to begin with. But there were poems about one night stands and a lot of relationship toxicity, which kinda bothered me. I mean, if you realize your toxic and you only get into relationships with people to make yourself feel better and then dispose of them, don’t make it grand through poetry. If you’re going to talk about your flaws in poems, make me feel the wrongness of it, make it ugly. Don’t sugar-coat it and dress it in beautiful words, because there’s nothing beautiful or endearing about it. (Here I sound much more frustrated than I actually am on this matter, I don’t know why it came out this way.)
Of course, this is a personal thing since I’m very picky when it comes to love poems. This is how I interpreted some of them, which doesn’t mean I’m right. This is what I love most about poetry, everyone can understand what they want and no side is wrong.
In conclusion, this is a good choice if you want to pick up some poetry and it fits pretty well with current events. I’m just not really into love poems. That’s who I am as a person.