A review by yukti_k
Deluge by Leila Chatti

5.0

I am so moved by this book. I took my time and savored each poem. When it began with "From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord", I knew it was going to break me. This book should be assigned reading to every woman. As Leila goes along questioning the ideas of being a woman and all it comprises whilst dealing with the abnormalities, the shame, the emptiness and the fullness that are assigned as moral duties, I began to slowly unravel my life. There is so much pain and confusion that we keep hidden inside of us because we do not know how to vocalize it and to whom. Even saying the words to other women diminishes what we feel as we feel ourselves surrendering in a fight.

As a collection of poems, I have never read so many inventive poems tied together so well. I highly recommend this book to whoever is interested in exploring and understanding disease, guilt, grief, shame and womanhood.