Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

27 reviews

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, Murder, and Sexual assault

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

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

lotte111's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

booksandteatime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

jayisreading's review against another edition

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

dusktreader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Beautiful and intricate. I listened to the audiobook at the same time as I read the book in print which really added to the experience—the author rewards beautifully. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Gun violence, and Violence

radhikag's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Death