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capnlinnius's review against another edition
5.0
Well, shit.
I've been reading this over the past several months, a poem here and there, partly because I don't read a lot of poetry, partly because I wanted to let my brain wrap around what I was reading.
Some of the poems made me sit and frown, some hit like really good song lyrics where the chorus sticks in your mind, some hit so close to home that I had to put the book away for a bit. All in all, wonderful and beautiful and ugly, and yes, I am definitely going to read more of Tantlinger's works!
I've been reading this over the past several months, a poem here and there, partly because I don't read a lot of poetry, partly because I wanted to let my brain wrap around what I was reading.
Some of the poems made me sit and frown, some hit like really good song lyrics where the chorus sticks in your mind, some hit so close to home that I had to put the book away for a bit. All in all, wonderful and beautiful and ugly, and yes, I am definitely going to read more of Tantlinger's works!
cmbarowsky's review against another edition
4.0
Rating: 4/5 stars
Cradleland of Parasites, a horror poetry collection regarding The Black Plague, so eloquently unveils the dark and dismal pandemic. Sara’s writing is saturated with beauty, even in the midst of such a bleak collection. The poems were rich, despite discussing the impoverished; powerful when presenting the feeble. Cradleland of Parasites isn’t *just* horror—it’s a profound representation of what this genre has to offer, and that sometimes the greatest horrors of all are the ones we endure in the real world.
If you’re a fan of poetry, anything dark and historical, or just need something short between reads, pick up Cradleland of Parasites.
Cradleland of Parasites, a horror poetry collection regarding The Black Plague, so eloquently unveils the dark and dismal pandemic. Sara’s writing is saturated with beauty, even in the midst of such a bleak collection. The poems were rich, despite discussing the impoverished; powerful when presenting the feeble. Cradleland of Parasites isn’t *just* horror—it’s a profound representation of what this genre has to offer, and that sometimes the greatest horrors of all are the ones we endure in the real world.
If you’re a fan of poetry, anything dark and historical, or just need something short between reads, pick up Cradleland of Parasites.
richardleis's review
5.0
Cradleland of Parasites might be Sara Tantlinger’s best collection yet, a sequence of frightening, gruesome, breathtakingly beautiful poems about the Black Plague and other very real pestilence horrors up through modern times. The collection reads especially urgent during our current global pandemic. Its well-researched history of how humanity has dealt with infectious disease in the past arrives through the most beautiful poetic lines, with rhythms, repetitions, and occasional end rhymes.
Phrase and line repetitions in poetry are wonderful, but what I especially loved about this collection is how the content of each poem felt unique and not repetitive, illuminating the Black Plague and its impact on humanity in strikingly varied ways, from love poems to litanies, first-person accounts to Pestilence itself addressing humanity. The narrators in the poems might be limited to the knowledge of the time or well-versed in our modern understanding of viruses, genomes, and epidemics. They might be warning the reader or reveling in the horror, finding in the grotesque and awful the very life-force that animates our Garden, the Earth, the only such place we know of in the universe, so far. This variety, plus the many things I didn’t know about the Black Plague and plague doctors and history, as well as shocking insights that pertain to our current experience kept me turning the pages for more. I will be grabbing this book off the shelf often.
Both paperback and hardcover editions have compelling covers (I’m a fan of red/black or red/white color schemes and those colors are so warranted here) while the hardcover edition adds additional photography inside, separating the poems into natural parts. I highly recommend this incredible collection.
Phrase and line repetitions in poetry are wonderful, but what I especially loved about this collection is how the content of each poem felt unique and not repetitive, illuminating the Black Plague and its impact on humanity in strikingly varied ways, from love poems to litanies, first-person accounts to Pestilence itself addressing humanity. The narrators in the poems might be limited to the knowledge of the time or well-versed in our modern understanding of viruses, genomes, and epidemics. They might be warning the reader or reveling in the horror, finding in the grotesque and awful the very life-force that animates our Garden, the Earth, the only such place we know of in the universe, so far. This variety, plus the many things I didn’t know about the Black Plague and plague doctors and history, as well as shocking insights that pertain to our current experience kept me turning the pages for more. I will be grabbing this book off the shelf often.
Both paperback and hardcover editions have compelling covers (I’m a fan of red/black or red/white color schemes and those colors are so warranted here) while the hardcover edition adds additional photography inside, separating the poems into natural parts. I highly recommend this incredible collection.
reads_vicariously's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not going to beat around the bush; I absolutely love this collection of plague poetry! The writing is beautiful, the imagery is exquisite (though ghastly and disturbing), and the focus on the Black Death is so cool...though a little unnerving considering when I read this (i.e. middle of a pandemic).
There are lots of intriguing overarching topics that span the collection; from the idea that this was either punishment or abandonment by God, to the utter havoc this disease caused in society, to the idea that it killed indiscriminately and leveled social classes. I also love how the author gives us a glimpse into the various perspectives from the time period. We see how the plague affected both prince and pauper alike, and some of my favorite poems are the ones written from the POV of people like the "Village Gravediggers" and the "Brothers of the Dead" (beaked plague doctors). There are also some cool poems that personify the disease as various demons, malicious spirits, and even a horseman of the apocalypse (Pestilence, of course).
It would appear that Tantlinger did her research for this collection. No one could write with such vivid authenticity about buboes, hemorrhaging, and puss otherwise (I hope). It also shows in poems such as "The Siege of Caffa" which is about diseased bodies being launched over city walls during wartime, and "Death Ships," which is about how the plague came to Sicily by boat. Such poems lend another level of weight and authenticity to what is already a well-thought-out collection. So many of these poems had me wanting to spend hours researching the terrifying historical veracity that spawned them.
I could go on and on about the poems in this collection. Like how there's one about people, in their petrified ignorance, who tried killing dogs and cats but left the rats alive. Or one about an awful storm that blows into a port city and exacerbates the disease. Or the ones toward the end of the collection that reach into the present and examine other infectious diseases, such as schistosomiasis, cysticercosis, and even covid. I could go on and on, but I'd rather you just go experience them for yourself!!
There are lots of intriguing overarching topics that span the collection; from the idea that this was either punishment or abandonment by God, to the utter havoc this disease caused in society, to the idea that it killed indiscriminately and leveled social classes. I also love how the author gives us a glimpse into the various perspectives from the time period. We see how the plague affected both prince and pauper alike, and some of my favorite poems are the ones written from the POV of people like the "Village Gravediggers" and the "Brothers of the Dead" (beaked plague doctors). There are also some cool poems that personify the disease as various demons, malicious spirits, and even a horseman of the apocalypse (Pestilence, of course).
It would appear that Tantlinger did her research for this collection. No one could write with such vivid authenticity about buboes, hemorrhaging, and puss otherwise (I hope). It also shows in poems such as "The Siege of Caffa" which is about diseased bodies being launched over city walls during wartime, and "Death Ships," which is about how the plague came to Sicily by boat. Such poems lend another level of weight and authenticity to what is already a well-thought-out collection. So many of these poems had me wanting to spend hours researching the terrifying historical veracity that spawned them.
I could go on and on about the poems in this collection. Like how there's one about people, in their petrified ignorance, who tried killing dogs and cats but left the rats alive. Or one about an awful storm that blows into a port city and exacerbates the disease. Or the ones toward the end of the collection that reach into the present and examine other infectious diseases, such as schistosomiasis, cysticercosis, and even covid. I could go on and on, but I'd rather you just go experience them for yourself!!
southern_chime's review against another edition
5.0
Another fantastic poetry collection from Sara Tantlinger!
I'll start this review off with saying that I don't normally read poetry. It has never been my favorite genre and a lot of the time the symbolism goes straight over my head. The poems in Cradleland of Parasites, however, are so well written that the story comes across crystal clear while still maintaining an eerie and haunting vibe. Tantlinger does a fantastic job in bringing the horrors of the black death to life by taking a ground level approach. While reading the poems you begin to feel this increasing level of dread while you try to grapple with the fact that real people lived through this event.
I'll start this review off with saying that I don't normally read poetry. It has never been my favorite genre and a lot of the time the symbolism goes straight over my head. The poems in Cradleland of Parasites, however, are so well written that the story comes across crystal clear while still maintaining an eerie and haunting vibe. Tantlinger does a fantastic job in bringing the horrors of the black death to life by taking a ground level approach. While reading the poems you begin to feel this increasing level of dread while you try to grapple with the fact that real people lived through this event.
dimeryrene's review against another edition
dark
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
3.75
montemaq's review against another edition
5.0
This is like nothing I’ve ever read. I love it. It’s one part soothing memento mori that really encapsulates the time we are living in, and another part fucking metal slaughterhouse that makes you want to throw up those horns. You would think those two things don’t go together but Sara Tantlinger doesn’t really give them a choice. Masterful. Thanks for writing this.
spooky_librarian's review against another edition
5.0
Nothing grabs my attention during National Poetry Month like poems centered around the macabre, and CRADLELAND OF PARASITES certainly grabbed that attention with its chronicling of the Black Plague. Sara Tantlinger's writing in these poems is beautiful, graphic, astoundingly relevant (due to its being published as we were all under the shadow of the coronavirus), and possibly triggering for those who are still reeling from 2020. If I'd read this during lockdown when the fear of the pandemic was at its peak, I'm wondering if I would've been able to finish it with all the stress I had been under. I loved how some poems were told from the perspective of the inflicted while others gave voice to the plague itself. Just brilliant!
emilianadelauro's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
fast-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
4.5