Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

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

31 reviews

moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense

5.0

This was an incredible collection. Like all good poetry, it bring you right at the heart of the emotion which makes this collection particularly devistating. The author shows snippets of his story growing up in Gaza under the terror of occupation as well as those of his family and community. The writing itself was beautiful and the style and inspiration varied. For instance, some poems alluded to other authors and their works, while others included photography. 

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Content Warnings

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

allisonkhenson's review

emotional informative reflective

5.0

really recommend 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Death, Gore, Child death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, and War

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This was my first read for the #Pages4Palestine Readathon, and what an incredibly powerful first read it was. There is something so beautiful and heartbreaking when a poet is able to create such an immense atmosphere of exactly what they want to convey, and Toha did just that. Not even 3 pages into this collection of poetry, and I already understood why it is an award-winning collection of poetry. 

I highly recommend, and it is definitely such an important collection to read. Every poem stuck out to me, but a few that feel very vital to point out are:
🇵🇸 Palestine A-Z
🇵🇸 The Wounds
🇵🇸 My Grandfather Was a Terrorist
🇵🇸 Sobbing Without Sound
🇵🇸 My City After What Happened Some Time Ago
🇵🇸 A Litany for “One Land”
🇵🇸 Displaced 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, Grief, and Child death

bellavictoria's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Violence, War, Torture, Racism, and Death

robinks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This is such a powerful collection of poetry. So many of the images and sentences illuminated the brutality of daily life for Abu Toha. The interview at the end of the collection also helped provide historical/political context for the works, which is helpful for those who may not know about Gaza and Palestine. I found this collection through following Abu Toha on Instagram.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

lifeinsherds's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely essential reading. Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha has such emotionally devastating poetry while having such a love and adoration for his country and his people. It is not a poetry collection that can be read easily all of the time. It is emotional and covers the poet's personal experience in war and the people he's seen murdered. Abu Toha is not the first Palestinian poet I've read, and yet this has become one of my favorite poetry books. I would also recommend reading (if you haven't yet) anything by Mahmoud Darwish or "Birthright" by George Abraham.

The interview at the end is also not to be skipped. He has some amazing insights to his views of poetry and what the poetic form means to language and memory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, War, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Colonisation

sarabrogan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, War, Blood, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Death, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief and Pandemic/Epidemic

letsgolesbians's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

5.0

i’ve read a lot of powerful poetry lately, and things you may find hidden in my ear stands out as one of my favorites. the poems activated all my senses, making me feel the tastes and sounds of gaza and the occupation as much as can be conveyed on page. 

from palestine a - z 

y

yaffa is my daughter's name. i put my ears near her mouth when she speaks, and i hear yaffa's sea, waves lapping against the shore. i look in her eyes, and i see my grandparents' footsteps still imprinted on the sand.

i was all excited that this book fit in my pocket and then it fell out. 🫠

photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4jXnonP0OS/?igsh=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ==

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Genocide, and War

lurieta's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Genocide, and War

dhiyanah's review against another edition

challenging sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Violence, Hate crime, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Death