A review by lilyflowers
My Name Is Why, by Lemn Sissay
5.0
Book 19 of 30 (I changed my goal to 30) -- My Name is Why? By Lemn Sissay
I was introduced to Lemn's poetry by accident. There was a time in my life where I felt disconnected from my heritage and was desperately seeking the words of people from my countries of origin to consume and be in proximity to. I Googled Ethiopian authors and Lemn's Blog came up with his poetry. Here I am years later reading a book of his life and feeling so much sadness for how it started but full of joy at watching him take on the world, where the foster care system tried to silence him.
MNIW is a raw account (there are passages from his actual care files) of the types of abuse and neglect Lemn and many other children faced and still face at the hands of adults who have no business taking care of children.
Con: The only con was the book's formatting was confusing at times because the files were scanned into the pages but then were also transcribed and then Lemn's adult voice was intermingled. I wish one of the two was in italics to better follow.
I was introduced to Lemn's poetry by accident. There was a time in my life where I felt disconnected from my heritage and was desperately seeking the words of people from my countries of origin to consume and be in proximity to. I Googled Ethiopian authors and Lemn's Blog came up with his poetry. Here I am years later reading a book of his life and feeling so much sadness for how it started but full of joy at watching him take on the world, where the foster care system tried to silence him.
MNIW is a raw account (there are passages from his actual care files) of the types of abuse and neglect Lemn and many other children faced and still face at the hands of adults who have no business taking care of children.
Con: The only con was the book's formatting was confusing at times because the files were scanned into the pages but then were also transcribed and then Lemn's adult voice was intermingled. I wish one of the two was in italics to better follow.