Reviews tagging 'War'

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire

44 reviews

inamerata's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

5.0

Absolutely stunning. The imagery, the word choice, the pacing, the emotions, the craft -- I lack the words to describe how good this is. This book deals in quite heavy topics, but if you are able, I definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and War

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Suicide, and Cannibalism

megan_bbender's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

Although I cannot relate first hand to some of the topics spoken about in this book, Warsan Shire has given me a new perspective and new knowledge about many different important issues.

I really enjoyed going through these poems. Every single one of them was thought-provoking. My personal favourite out of the poems in this book is Midnight In The Foreign Food Aisle. It is obvious that Warsan Shire writes from the heart. 

Many of these poems were so deep and held so much meaning that I didn't even have thoughts about them, I just sat with them after reading them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Blood, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, and Deportation

Minor: Cursing

venetiana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Deportation

sharonus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

Minor: Suicide, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

czidya's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

3.5

This collection was a mixed bag, but where it was good it was outstanding. Shire's writing is richly symbolic as it deals with challenging topics like abuse, misogyny, and the experiences of refugees. At times I found the imagery so dense it was impenetrable- unfortunately many of the poems left no impression on me at all because I couldn't really make sense of the verbal collage. However, Shire gets the balance right more often than not, creating lush emotional poems that share a fraught but profound relationship with God and religion, as the collection's title suggests.
My favorites of the collection:

• Filial Cannibalism
• Midnight in the Foreign Food Aisle
• Bless the Camels
• Hooyo Full of Grace
• Joyride
• Backwards

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death and War

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

As a whole, it’s a 4.5 star collection with some outstanding 5+ star poems. 

I loved how she tackled the themes of girlhood and womanhood, experiences of being a refugee and immigrant, grief, trauma, celebrations of life, death, family, and more. Each of the four sections offered something unique to the stories she was telling. 

There are some really heavy subjects/topics and references in this collection, so be aware. 
CW: FGM and gender violence, child abuse and death, rape, death, eating disorders, famine, war and racism, and others.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Grief, and War

lotte111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

booksandteatime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and War

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional

5.0

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head is one of my favorite poetry collections of this year ( maybe ever).
“Backwards” and “Bless this House” are two stand out poems for me, but there are plenty of incredible ones which will pull on your heart strings and never cease to amaze you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Xenophobia

jayisreading's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I was excited when I heard that Warsan Shire was publishing a new collection of poems. I enjoyed Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and the themes that she covered. Not surprisingly, the themes that came up in her new collection were just as thought-provoking and haunting, exploring girlhood/womanhood, borders (both personal and political), faith, among others.

That said, something about these poems didn’t quite land the same way that her earlier poems did. The poems didn’t read as cohesive as a whole and, even within their sections, seemed a little scattered.

What I do love about Shire’s writing is how multisensorial her poems are, making for a unique experience any time you read anything by her. This was certainly the case in this collection, even if the poems didn’t have the same impact as her previous works did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, and War