kingjason's review
5.0
I would love to see this book trending on Twitter, if anything stands a chance of taking down that platform it is this book. There is something to upset everybody in this book and the meltdown on twitter would be a site to behold. Harry may come across as Anti-mask, Anti-Lockdown and Anti-Vax but only in so far as he thinks we shouldn't become sheep and follow blindly those in charge, he wants you to look for the evidence before you condemn somebody for having an opinion, don't believe the media spin making out that anybody who is anti something is a lunatic.
I did forget at times I was reading a book of poetry as the book comes across more like an exploration of the events that have occurred in 2020, it was so easy to get caught up in the subject matter. At the beginning of the book I did chuckle a few times as Harry got angrier and angrier until he reached full blown rant and the poems almost become a scream, but as I got further and further into the book the chuckling stopped, I realised just how fucking insane the world has become. Seeing the events of 2020 condensed into this one book is so shocking, I had been plodding along in life watching the world fall apart one thing at a time, Harry tells things how they happened, events falling over each other to destroy as much as possible.
There are somethings I agreed with in this book, most things if I'm honest, but there are some I didn't, one of those was about J. K. Rowling's transphobia. Many people tried to cancel her for what she said, here Harry tries to defend the point she was trying to make, I am of the opinion "Why did she have to say anything in the first place? What's it to do with her?" But that's just my opinion....not that it has anything to do with me.
This book is guaranteed to cause a huge debate and nobody will ever come to agreement over it, the sad thing is this debate will overshadow the fact that this is some of Harry's best work, 2020 has inspired him to write some truly incredible words. Possibly the best thing he has written is almost a review of his own work, "I DON’T WANT PEOPLE WHO ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY SWEAR WORDS TO READ MY BOOKS ANYWAY", I absolutely love that poem, I just wish I had been the one to have written the last line. The book is not 100% angry Harry, there is still some of his classic word play and in one he messes around with fonts, in another he uses this great line "High-fly barfly acrobat hoofing." Surely that one line is enough to make you wanna pick up this book as see what it's all about? These little islands of word play are perfectly placed to give you a quick breather and save you from getting overwhelmed by the main subject matter.
I really do hope that Harry doesn't get cancelled over this book, I hope that people read this book and look at themselves to see how they have behaved this year, this book will either make you slink away in shame or hold your head up high and be proud of how much care you gave.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/11/24/the-gulag-village-green-by-harry-whitewolf/
I did forget at times I was reading a book of poetry as the book comes across more like an exploration of the events that have occurred in 2020, it was so easy to get caught up in the subject matter. At the beginning of the book I did chuckle a few times as Harry got angrier and angrier until he reached full blown rant and the poems almost become a scream, but as I got further and further into the book the chuckling stopped, I realised just how fucking insane the world has become. Seeing the events of 2020 condensed into this one book is so shocking, I had been plodding along in life watching the world fall apart one thing at a time, Harry tells things how they happened, events falling over each other to destroy as much as possible.
There are somethings I agreed with in this book, most things if I'm honest, but there are some I didn't, one of those was about J. K. Rowling's transphobia. Many people tried to cancel her for what she said, here Harry tries to defend the point she was trying to make, I am of the opinion "Why did she have to say anything in the first place? What's it to do with her?" But that's just my opinion....not that it has anything to do with me.
This book is guaranteed to cause a huge debate and nobody will ever come to agreement over it, the sad thing is this debate will overshadow the fact that this is some of Harry's best work, 2020 has inspired him to write some truly incredible words. Possibly the best thing he has written is almost a review of his own work, "I DON’T WANT PEOPLE WHO ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY SWEAR WORDS TO READ MY BOOKS ANYWAY", I absolutely love that poem, I just wish I had been the one to have written the last line. The book is not 100% angry Harry, there is still some of his classic word play and in one he messes around with fonts, in another he uses this great line "High-fly barfly acrobat hoofing." Surely that one line is enough to make you wanna pick up this book as see what it's all about? These little islands of word play are perfectly placed to give you a quick breather and save you from getting overwhelmed by the main subject matter.
I really do hope that Harry doesn't get cancelled over this book, I hope that people read this book and look at themselves to see how they have behaved this year, this book will either make you slink away in shame or hold your head up high and be proud of how much care you gave.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/11/24/the-gulag-village-green-by-harry-whitewolf/
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