robinks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
This collection didn’t really seem to have much tying it all together. While there were a couple with vivid, powerful imagery, I couldn’t connect to most of the work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Murder, and Suicide
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit
cstefko's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I thought Puhak stretched her concept (“portrait of the artist as”) a little too thin with some of the subjects chosen, but I did find most of the poems engaging. Just not a collection that’s going to stick in my mind very long.
“portrait of the artist with the inventor of the barometer” was my favorite.
“portrait of the artist with the inventor of the barometer” was my favorite.
talliereadsandwrites's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. I enjoyed the writing style but wasn’t really connecting with the overall content. All in all, a quick read but none of the poems really stuck with me. The titles all being “Portrait of a…” made them all blend together in my mind but that might just be a me issue. I felt like this had a lot of potential but just didn’t resonate with me. I would give another book by the author a chance for sure. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
asynonymroll's review
3.0
Harbinger by Shelley Puhak
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Netgalley & publisher for the ARC!
I am going to be incredible honest, I did not enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I had such high hopes as I truly enjoy poetry but it felt like these were poems that they would dive deep into in an advanced AP poetry class or something. They were hard to read and held little to no emotional impact for me which is how I usually see poetry and rate it - how if effects me emotionally. I understood the core concepts of femininity, womanhood, sexual experiences, motherhood, etc but it did not land with me in any way.
potterandpromises's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book via a giveaway, with a review being encouraged but not required.
Athletically, this book is very, very pretty, from the cover to the bird silhouettes inside. Unfortunately, that’s the best thing it has going for it.
This book is mostly fine, not great, but fine. I’m sure some other reader could connect to it, but I could not. At 61 pages, this felt too long. I only liked a few of the poems. Also, this being an ARC I'm not supposed to share specific quotes, which is fair, but let's just say that while I’m sure ass-jiggling can be described... well? this book does not do that.