readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
3.75
To reread
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, Sexual harassment, and Racism
briannad4's review
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Pedophilia, and Murder
anniefwrites's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
It has been a good long while since I’ve read any poetry, but by midway through this collection, I was back into it. Elhillo tackles girlhood, womanhood, her Sudanese culture, and violence against women artfully and powerfully. While a poem or two went over my head, the
collection did resonate with me, especially “Ode to My Homegirls.”
collection did resonate with me, especially “Ode to My Homegirls.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Blood, Misogyny, and Pedophilia
hmetwade's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
Minor: Stalking
kari_f's review
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
4.0
“see her: little cousin, little sister, sparrow-boned, alive. i want to turn to firewood everything that hurts her. i do not have the verbs for what i need for her. i needed them myself & was not protected. i want to make ash of this world that did not protect us & from that nourished soil sprout one better.”
Raw and personal, beautiful and haunting, this collection of poems was hard to read and important to read. Generations of trauma and shame are shared through these lines, right alongside years of friendship and belonging and kinship.
There is rage, there is despair. There is also hope for healing for the girls that never die, for those who weren’t protected and had everything in the world thrown at them, for those who persisted anyway.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy. Most of all, thanks to the author for sharing your stories and the stories of those who trusted you with them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Misogyny
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