Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha

26 reviews

goddessofwhatnot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The style of poetry is not my cup of tea, may Mosab forgive me:(
I was far more fascinated by his experiences living in Gaza and seeing thru his eyes a bit.
I especially loved the interview at the back where he discusses poetry in general and how it can change how you think and feel about oneself and one’s life 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

kittiesss's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

lidia7's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, and Colonisation

Minor: Medical content

zennyreads's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

sophiestasyna's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Medical trauma, Medical content, Child death, Confinement, Islamophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Death, Violence, Dementia, Murder, War, Hate crime, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

5.0

Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear is evocative from the title, and it absolutely does not stop throughout the book. Abu Toha takes his readers into the intimate and heart-wrenching moments of a culture, a land, a people under generations of siege. He shows the humanity of the Palestinians of Gaza, a humanity that is often ignored, erased, or disputed in much of mainstream media today. These are not empty numbers or mindless villains dying in the streets of Gaza - they are children, siblings, parents, grandparents, friends, lovers, each their own complex bundle of human spirit. Abu Toha keeps that fact at the forefront of his poems.

I also enjoyed the photographic interlude and the interview with Abu Toha at the end of the book; both provided insight and context to some of the specific details enumerated in his poems. The photos additionally emphasized how real the lives of Palestinians are. 

As I always try to do when I review poetry books, here is a list of my favorite poems from this collection: "Palestine A-Z", "My Grandfather Was A Terrorist",  "Death Before Birth (DBB)", "Displaced", "To My Visa Interviewer", the titular "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear", and "A Rose Shoulders Up". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, War, Child death, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content and Medical trauma

lbelow's review

emotional informative reflective sad tense

5.0

This is a beautifully moving collection of poetry. Each poem is lyrical and raw, drawing me into the author's life. A must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Genocide, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, and Blood

jayisreading's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

This was a heartfelt and heartbreaking collection of poems, in which Abu Toha primarily reflected on his life in Palestine. This collection also drew as much attention to the pain and trauma that Palestinians have gone through as much as it did to the love and hope they have for their history and culture. The first poem, "Palestine A–Z," was an especially thought-provoking way to start the collection and prepare the reader for the themes that would appear. In addition to these poems, there is an interview with Abu Toha at the end of this collection that really brought everything together poignantly that is well worth reading.

While I didn't think there was anything revolutionary or interesting happening when it came to form and structure, I thought the delivery of these poems were powerful, with many of them remaining with you pages after you finish reading them. (Somewhat of an aside, but I think this is a fantastic collection for novice readers of poetry.)

As Abu Toha beautifully writes in the interlude, "Through it all, the strawberries have never stopped growing." In spite of everything, the heart of Palestine continues beating.

Some favorites: "Palestine A–Z," "What Is Home?," "My Grandfather Was a Terrorist," "Sobbing Without Sound," "A Litany for 'One Land'," "Desert and Exile," "Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and Theodor Adorno in Gaza," "Displaced," "To My Visa Interviewer," and "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear"

Note: I would like to thank the publisher for making this collection free for readers to download.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Genocide

shannon_magee's review

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Death, War, and Blood