belrodrigues's review
5.0
"so many question, but if the questions are all answered they cannot profit from your murder".
southern_chime's review
5.0
This is an amazing and impactful book. The writing is clear and understandable even for a newbie to poetry. Each poem tells the story of a woman or girl who has gone missing. Following each poem is a description of the missing woman, their date of disappearance, and the contact for local authorities that are handling the case.
megare's review
4.0
There are many great things to say about this collection and two not-so-great things.
I will start with the great things. The concept in itself is already daring and powerful - poems about the women and girls lost and destroyed. I approached it hesitatingly, though, because the fact the poems were based on real cases felt a bit exploitative at first. However, as each poem based on a real case also provides contact details to the investigating agency and some more details about the case, this collection becomes not just a work of art, but also a tool to publicize the less known cases, a possibility - even if ever so slim - of gaining tips and clues which have not been discovered yet.
It goes without saying that the book packs a powerful punch. Its content is tragic, bleak, and will drown the reader in despair. It is a book that makes your heart heavy. It is not a book to read in one sitting, unless one is desensitised, possibly due to their occupation. But it is definitely a collection worth reading and reflecting upon - and also to see if maybe you know something little about one case, maybe you remember.
I would not say that the poetry is absolutely outstanding, but some poems will hit you with an unexpected, fresh observation that will make you stop and ponder: "Marriage dotted with abuse they called domestic" ("I Am Coming"), or an amazing metaphor.
As mentioned above, there were two things that irritated me when I was reading the poems, but my dilemma is that it feels awkward critiquing this work. It carries such heaviness with it, such a burden of tragedy that it seems wrong to critique - but I will, nonetheless, because I think that whoever edited this collection, has let the author down greatly.
Firstly, there are numerous small mistakes, which could have been easily fixed by an editor - some typos, quite a few syntax errors (that clearly are not a poetic device employed by the author).
Secondly, many poems are in the 2nd person, and in quite a lot of them there is a sudden switch between the persons spoken to, which is very confusing. E.g. in the first half of a line the "you" the author is talking to is the victim and then in the second half, with no logical turn, the "you" is her child. Again, here is where the editor should have smoothed things out - but for some reason did not.
Yet, all in all, I still certainly consider the collection a very worthy project and recommend giving it a try.
I will start with the great things. The concept in itself is already daring and powerful - poems about the women and girls lost and destroyed. I approached it hesitatingly, though, because the fact the poems were based on real cases felt a bit exploitative at first. However, as each poem based on a real case also provides contact details to the investigating agency and some more details about the case, this collection becomes not just a work of art, but also a tool to publicize the less known cases, a possibility - even if ever so slim - of gaining tips and clues which have not been discovered yet.
It goes without saying that the book packs a powerful punch. Its content is tragic, bleak, and will drown the reader in despair. It is a book that makes your heart heavy. It is not a book to read in one sitting, unless one is desensitised, possibly due to their occupation. But it is definitely a collection worth reading and reflecting upon - and also to see if maybe you know something little about one case, maybe you remember.
I would not say that the poetry is absolutely outstanding, but some poems will hit you with an unexpected, fresh observation that will make you stop and ponder: "Marriage dotted with abuse they called domestic" ("I Am Coming"), or an amazing metaphor.
As mentioned above, there were two things that irritated me when I was reading the poems, but my dilemma is that it feels awkward critiquing this work. It carries such heaviness with it, such a burden of tragedy that it seems wrong to critique - but I will, nonetheless, because I think that whoever edited this collection, has let the author down greatly.
Firstly, there are numerous small mistakes, which could have been easily fixed by an editor - some typos, quite a few syntax errors (that clearly are not a poetic device employed by the author).
Secondly, many poems are in the 2nd person, and in quite a lot of them there is a sudden switch between the persons spoken to, which is very confusing. E.g. in the first half of a line the "you" the author is talking to is the victim and then in the second half, with no logical turn, the "you" is her child. Again, here is where the editor should have smoothed things out - but for some reason did not.
Yet, all in all, I still certainly consider the collection a very worthy project and recommend giving it a try.
tupeloallie's review
4.0
The poetry was good but the moments of silence this book gave me were even better.