Reviews

Brown: Poems by Kevin Young

jesshooves's review against another edition

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“all your mother insists
we must see to know
What they did

to my baby. The true
Tallahatchie twisting south,
the Delta
Death’s second cousin
once removed.” —from Money Road

erafael2022's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.0

nuhafariha's review against another edition

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3.0

This book is a celebration of black life, black joy and black tragedy. It’s broken down into four sort of sections, childhood, teenage, adulthood and author’s personal heroes. One of the poems, or more rightfully elegy, focuses on Booker Wright and his life. It is my favorite. You can hear the humming of the restaurant, the quiet murmurs of the patronage, the slap of good Southern cooking, the rhythmic melody of Wright’s own voice. It’s quiet beautiful, just as the rest of the book. When read together, it sings like an old blues melody.

ajcain92's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

4.0

remigves's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

3.0

antonique_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

lelex's review against another edition

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5.0

I liked this quite a lot, although I didn't understand all of the sports/baseball references. My favorites were Flame Tempered, Sunflower, History, and De La Soul is Dead.

"Sleeping bags were a war zone where nobody died or got sent home"

"Later I waved to her from the podium after winning City, my smile as long as the shot she'd thought I had."

"I found your first record yesterday-it looked like the past & sounded like the future-that combo platter I loved best of all."

scorpi07's review against another edition

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4.0

Wow. That was powerful.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed hearing the author read his poetry.

allisonarth's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

thevicarslice's review against another edition

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5.0

This collection is fantastic! Kevin Young deftly bounces between childhood, adolescence, adulthood, blackness, music, relationships, culture, youth and everything in between. I felt particular kinship with his exploration and love of music. There's a measured effortlessness to his writing, which I am admittedly a bit jealous of, though I'm sure he works his ass off to make it seem so.

Read Kevin Young!