Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Bendita seja a filha criada por uma voz em sua cabeça: Poemas by Laura Assis, Warsan Shire

30 reviews

samanthatully's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Racism

venetiana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Rape, Blood, Racism, Murder, Eating disorder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Confinement, Cancer, Abortion, War, Child death, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical content, Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, Domestic abuse, Deportation, Child abuse, and Abandonment

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

karis_dl's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

As always, Shire's poetry is evocative, powerful, and sincere. She is one of my favourite current feminist poets. I find here writing to be so insightful and so moving; it's one of those pieces you carry with you for a long time after you put the book down. This collection covers topics like Black womanhood, family, migration, trauma, resilience, belonging, and more. Shire writes about the tumultuous bodily experience of womanhood. She looks at the idea of home, boundaries, and bodies. Please go read this, but also do check for content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Xenophobia and Sexual assault

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

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional

5.0

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head is one of my favorite poetry collections of this year ( maybe ever).
“Backwards” and “Bless this House” are two stand out poems for me, but there are plenty of incredible ones which will pull on your heart strings and never cease to amaze you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Violence, Sexual assault, War, Rape, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Xenophobia

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

ashlynnoel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Racism, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Xenophobia

Minor: War

deedireads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head is a masterful collection of poems by a master poet on womanhood, trauma, and the refugee experience. They’re heavy, but hard-hitting and moving.

For you if: You want to read poetry that adds to your view of the world and humanity.

FULL REVIEW:

Thank you, Random House, for the advanced electronic copy of this book! It’s the first full-length poetry collection from Warsan Shire, the award-winning Somali British poet who worked with Beyonce on Lemonade and Black is King. So yes, it’s as good as you’re expecting.

The poems draw from her own experiences, loved ones’ experiences, headlines, etc. to shape a journey through womanhood, motherhood, daughterhood, being a refugee and immigrant, abuse, trauma, and defiant hope.

I feel like I need to reread this to get the full effect, but I was especially impressed with how Shire merges pop culture and poetry to make the collection feel not only modern but current and timely. She has something to say here, and you’re certainly going to hear it. And, of course, there are lines and couplets and stanzas that come out of nowhere punch you in the gut.

It’s a quick read, but worth it if you are a fan of poetry (and maybe even if you’re not).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, and Misogyny