thatsoneforthebooks's review against another edition
5.0
✨ Review ✨ Promises of Gold by José Olivarez
"My people I am poly with the tortillas”
This is one of my favorite poetry collections I've ever read. Bringing together love, family, friendship, and food together with topics of capitalism, migration, colonization, and so much more, Olivarez creates a masterful collection -- one that I was dying to share with friends as I read.
It speaks to some many experiences of the moment, and I loved his poems about tortillas (see the quote above), as well as what we've loved and lost through quarantine and systemic racism in the U.S. This beautiful collection is one that I'll surely be drawing from in class and gifting to friends.
I'm HERE for anything he writes now and forever!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: poetry
Pub Date: 07 Feb 2023
**Volume is in English and translated into Spanish.**
Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!
"My people I am poly with the tortillas”
This is one of my favorite poetry collections I've ever read. Bringing together love, family, friendship, and food together with topics of capitalism, migration, colonization, and so much more, Olivarez creates a masterful collection -- one that I was dying to share with friends as I read.
It speaks to some many experiences of the moment, and I loved his poems about tortillas (see the quote above), as well as what we've loved and lost through quarantine and systemic racism in the U.S. This beautiful collection is one that I'll surely be drawing from in class and gifting to friends.
I'm HERE for anything he writes now and forever!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: poetry
Pub Date: 07 Feb 2023
**Volume is in English and translated into Spanish.**
Thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!
jbmorgan86's review against another edition
3.0
I said this about Olivarez’s last collection, “Citizen Illegal”:
A short, entertaining collection of poems by Mexican-American poet, José Olivarez. Most of the poems read like text messages: short bursts without proper capitalization or punctuation. There’s no strict form, rhyme, or rhythm here. There are moments of laugh out loud humor . . . and moments of genuine insight of what it’s like living with feet in two different cultures.
That same review could work for this collection. The theme is a bit different here. The theme is love and why is it hard so hard for men to give it, receive it, and express it? Some poems are literally text messages. There’s some anger directed at capitalism and injustices in the world. There are some pandemic poems where the poet fears for his parents’ deaths. Whatever the topic, it folds back into the theme of love.
I have to admit that I enjoyed one poem about punching Jeff Bezos in the face.
A short, entertaining collection of poems by Mexican-American poet, José Olivarez. Most of the poems read like text messages: short bursts without proper capitalization or punctuation. There’s no strict form, rhyme, or rhythm here. There are moments of laugh out loud humor . . . and moments of genuine insight of what it’s like living with feet in two different cultures.
That same review could work for this collection. The theme is a bit different here. The theme is love and why is it hard so hard for men to give it, receive it, and express it? Some poems are literally text messages. There’s some anger directed at capitalism and injustices in the world. There are some pandemic poems where the poet fears for his parents’ deaths. Whatever the topic, it folds back into the theme of love.
I have to admit that I enjoyed one poem about punching Jeff Bezos in the face.
tiakiwi's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I really loved that the poems ate shown in both English and Spanish, because just like the introduction says, sometimes there is just no good way to have something translated. Especially if there are specific meanings in the language itself. A look into 1st generation families.
bearcave's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
muddymind's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
5.0
Hearing Olivarez perform his newest collection of works made them that much better. I love how we get a glance at his creative process and more context to these beautiful poems.