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fgr's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Child death
sass's review
2.5
I definitely preferred this to Dropbear, and the content was interesting, but I still don’t get on with this style of poetry.
littlerah's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
The interwoven anecdotes and poetry of this book are its primary strength. Really beautiful and telling stories of generational loss and growth.
"These are some of the years of my great-grandmother's life when she evaded the surveillance of the government.
When she cannot be found in the archive" (33).
I really respect the emotional strength required to write this and to make storytelling a written piece. Shiosaki has made a really powerful connection to the Noongar women of her family and should be proud of this piece.
"I know from experience
when I was among some white people
I'd wish I was just like them
just white
when I was among Aboriginals
I'd wish I was like them
I didn't want to be white
you just want to be accepted by everybody" (108-9).
My favourite poems included:
"These are some of the years of my great-grandmother's life when she evaded the surveillance of the government.
When she cannot be found in the archive" (33).
I really respect the emotional strength required to write this and to make storytelling a written piece. Shiosaki has made a really powerful connection to the Noongar women of her family and should be proud of this piece.
"I know from experience
when I was among some white people
I'd wish I was just like them
just white
when I was among Aboriginals
I'd wish I was like them
I didn't want to be white
you just want to be accepted by everybody" (108-9).
My favourite poems included:
- Tidal Race (35)
- Legacy (48)
- Blood Love (49)
- Lost in Archive (113)
- Starstruck (117).
elena_lowana's review
5.0
By far one of my favourite poetry readings. I read it quickly, but it was no less savoured for it. I know I will read and re-read this collection again and again; return to certain poems at different times - as balm, as solace, as restoration.
Blood memory, healing, wounding through the archives; the role of storytelling to 'resist', 'survive', 'renew' (the 3 sections in the collection). So much that I have found difficult to translate from feeling into words is captured in Shiosaki's poetry.
The use of archives throughout - to challenge, speak back to, hold to account - of voices now passed on, recorded and transmitted through poetic form was a powerful way to provide this generational storytelling. It has inspired me, lit a spark within me of my own generational stories; the stories that have not yet been given voice and yet should be. The use of language words throughout, of place and its markers - reclaiming Country, reclaiming being - each page was brilliant in both language and form.
The below are 3 poems that stood out to me the most, on my first reading (impossible to include the entire book here). I know as I read again and again there will be others, influenced by the time and location in which I read from.
'The Past Is a Second Heartbeat' (122).
'Lost in Archive' (113).
'Tidal Race' (35).
Finally, I want to share Jeanine Leane's review of this collection, for the way it picks out something often ignored in poetry reviews - the use of space:
Blood memory, healing, wounding through the archives; the role of storytelling to 'resist', 'survive', 'renew' (the 3 sections in the collection). So much that I have found difficult to translate from feeling into words is captured in Shiosaki's poetry.
The use of archives throughout - to challenge, speak back to, hold to account - of voices now passed on, recorded and transmitted through poetic form was a powerful way to provide this generational storytelling. It has inspired me, lit a spark within me of my own generational stories; the stories that have not yet been given voice and yet should be. The use of language words throughout, of place and its markers - reclaiming Country, reclaiming being - each page was brilliant in both language and form.
The below are 3 poems that stood out to me the most, on my first reading (impossible to include the entire book here). I know as I read again and again there will be others, influenced by the time and location in which I read from.
'The Past Is a Second Heartbeat' (122).
'Lost in Archive' (113).
'Tidal Race' (35).
Finally, I want to share Jeanine Leane's review of this collection, for the way it picks out something often ignored in poetry reviews - the use of space:
"These seemingly blank spaces are where the spectral/spirit world carries on and the ancestors continue their lives in pauses, in margins, and in between lines. It’s the unwritten words – what English cannot do or say – and what the page cannot contain that make the poems so powerful. Fragmented and untold stories are conjured by blank spaces. Meaning and story live on beyond the poems."
a_shelf_of_books's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
archytas's review
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
There is, frankly, an astonishing feat of storytelling. Shiosaki draws on archival records, imaginings, oral histories and images, and, in composition, utilises such precise sense of positioning and order that you can hear not only the voices, but the pauses, and the things unsaid.
The result is a compelling, heroic story of a family - both as an unit united through time and as individuals - and thier survival. It also critiques the archive, looking at what is left out and why, as well as what perspective it is curated into, and then filtered through. In this way, it is both a celebration and a condemnation of archives.
I read the pdf ebook version of this. At first I thought there had been stylistic decisions to write words as typeovers (still not 100% sure there weren't) but eventually realised it appeared to be an issue with the rendered of th combinations. I ended up buying a copy - both because I really do think this is a spectacular volume and because I wanted to not be confusing accident with intent.