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jenwoodrum's review
4.0
Reyna's poetry book was full of raw and real messages about experiences of grief, motherhood, love, and spirit. I loved the empowerment she provides to readers about finding ourselves, healing, and having hope. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into her perspectives as a black woman.
The poems ranged in length and style, and I really enjoyed the diversity in presentation. Some of her longer poems with more substance really resonated with me, and I grew in viewing the world in a new light. I liked the shorter poems that really hit you with a tough but true reality.
I did wish that the poems were organized or had some structure by topic. However, this is a personal preference, as I sometimes get lost in poetry books when I don't have a little organization to go off of.
Overall, I think many readers of poetry will enjoy Reyna's expression and art. She has a gift of communicating the experience of being a woman, growing through hardships, and finding your strength.
Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will be sharing my review on my Instagram page closer to the pub date!
The poems ranged in length and style, and I really enjoyed the diversity in presentation. Some of her longer poems with more substance really resonated with me, and I grew in viewing the world in a new light. I liked the shorter poems that really hit you with a tough but true reality.
I did wish that the poems were organized or had some structure by topic. However, this is a personal preference, as I sometimes get lost in poetry books when I don't have a little organization to go off of.
Overall, I think many readers of poetry will enjoy Reyna's expression and art. She has a gift of communicating the experience of being a woman, growing through hardships, and finding your strength.
Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will be sharing my review on my Instagram page closer to the pub date!
kyrstin_p1989's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Really pretty poems but not too many that resonated with my own experience.
thereadingwren's review
3.0
This was a solid poetry collection.
Some of my favourites:
- In this life
- New age
- Funny like that
- Good woman
- Forgive me
- Void of course
- Get lucky
- My fault
- Universe
- Pour out
Some of my favourites:
- In this life
- New age
- Funny like that
- Good woman
- Forgive me
- Void of course
- Get lucky
- My fault
- Universe
- Pour out
readbyamity's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
2.75
This was good. There were a few poems that stuck with me, but ultimately I found that a lot of them were much the same and could have been cut to make a more succinct collection. I loved the theme running through the collection and can see this being a very relatable collection.
inkdrinkers's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
"my issue / is i'm always / missing / old versions / of people" (22)
Reyna Biddy's we find our way is a hard collection to describe. It's in part self-reflective, but part reflective of how the world has systematically treated black people, and specifically, black women their entire lives. Biddy's voice is like a drum beat, building with each poem in intensity, reminding the reader that life takes work and life is often not as pretty as some poets describe it.
I think I would have liked this collection more had I known going into it that it was more serious. These topics aren't light-hearted and they don't read in an easy manner. Biddy takes time to discuss not only systematic racism, but miscarriage, death of a parent, police brutality, and the covid-19 pandemic. A lot of these poems had a wonderful cadence to them - but that also meant that I felt like something was missing as I read. It was the equivalent of reading a play instead of being able to see it acted out on a stage, these poem's needed the weight of Biddy's voice reading them.
While I did enjoy a handful of the poems in this collection, it overall felt like it didn't connect with me. I had a hard time relating to the mentions of pregnancy and miscarriage and I feel like that personally impacted my ability to enjoy the overall collection. The tone is somber at times, but the writing is beautiful. I would highly recommend readers seek out Reyna Biddy's spoken word performances online to get the full impact of the author's talent.
Disclaimer, I received a free physical copy of this book via Andrews McMeel's influencer program.
Content warnings: brief mention of miscarriage, death of a parent description, racism, and police brutality.
Reyna Biddy's we find our way is a hard collection to describe. It's in part self-reflective, but part reflective of how the world has systematically treated black people, and specifically, black women their entire lives. Biddy's voice is like a drum beat, building with each poem in intensity, reminding the reader that life takes work and life is often not as pretty as some poets describe it.
I think I would have liked this collection more had I known going into it that it was more serious. These topics aren't light-hearted and they don't read in an easy manner. Biddy takes time to discuss not only systematic racism, but miscarriage, death of a parent, police brutality, and the covid-19 pandemic. A lot of these poems had a wonderful cadence to them - but that also meant that I felt like something was missing as I read. It was the equivalent of reading a play instead of being able to see it acted out on a stage, these poem's needed the weight of Biddy's voice reading them.
While I did enjoy a handful of the poems in this collection, it overall felt like it didn't connect with me. I had a hard time relating to the mentions of pregnancy and miscarriage and I feel like that personally impacted my ability to enjoy the overall collection. The tone is somber at times, but the writing is beautiful. I would highly recommend readers seek out Reyna Biddy's spoken word performances online to get the full impact of the author's talent.
Disclaimer, I received a free physical copy of this book via Andrews McMeel's influencer program.
Content warnings: brief mention of miscarriage, death of a parent description, racism, and police brutality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
allie_ish's review
2.0
This collection was alright for me. The poems that felt more impactful were her narrative ones which were only a few.
hobbitsandtea's review
reflective
fast-paced
2.5
It’s readable. Not the most thought-provoking poetry book but I took the author’s entries as spiritual lessons and reminders. To be grateful, to love, to reflect — things I forget to do and shouldn’t. That was it, though, just other retellings in different words and stories.