Reviews

Selected Poems by Linton Kwesi Johnson

chloebethx_'s review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

queencoc0's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

daisyteale's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Murder and Classism

vasilis's review

dark inspiring slow-paced

4.0

bookloveriffat's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

laraamaee's review

5.0

An amazing collection of LKJ's dub poetry from the 70's, 80's, & 90's which tackles themes such as institutionalised racism & police brutality in Britain, written in Jamaican Creole (which is itself in opposition to conventional literary/grammatical rules & thus corrupt power structures). Some favourites: 'Sonny's Lettah' (an Anti-Sus poem i.e. against the Vagrancy Act which led to young Black people being disproportionately arrested), 'Reggae fi Dada' (a heartfelt poem for his father who died in 1982), & 'New Craas Massakah' (in memory of the fourteen young Black people killed in the New Cross Massacre 1981). Although the poems are more suited to being read aloud, with reggae music accompaniment, I still very much enjoyed this collection and learned a lot from it.

lauracollins096's review

3.0

I quite enjoyed this collection. To begin with I was impressed but reading too much at once made them all blur into one as they all had similar themes and styles.

I would recommend it but it didn't blow me away!

mekeisha's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

chloexlefebvre's review

for school but lowkey kinda good

(my reviews are godly i know)

gabi_leoncini's review

3.0

I would 100% recommend listening to this as you read (or at least read this aloud). I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to!