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notesofacrocodile's review
4.0
4.5☆ — a wonderful book of poetry in verse, moving and poignant, coated with a dusty layer of nostalgia and darkness, and echoing with the sharp sting of bygone intimacies. it was pleasing to read the work of such a talented poet who happens to be from the same part of india as me, and i enjoyed the references as megha rao artfully and seamlessly combined the weight of the two languages together to create teething. my only complaint was that the premise felt slightly different from what the book ended up actually dedicating itself to, but the writing does make it worth it
pravallika_manju's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse
paperdavid's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
_askthebookbug's review against another edition
5.0
/ Teething by @_megharao
There are certain people in this world who make you look at words like never before. They string them together like delicate pearl necklaces, only more precious. Megha's words fall onto our bodies like rose petals, the ones that are ripped from its stem. So you see beauty but also the price it had to pay for being wanted. This cracker of a book became my instant favourite, making me ponder about how something less than a 100 pages can carry such tremendous power to make one feel things all the way to their toes.
Megha writes about her family in a way that makes you want to hug yours, to protect them from all things ugly and to assure them of your love. Growing up in Kerala with her two siblings and barely present parents, Megha becomes an adult way too early. She watches her brother put on makeup and try skirts behind closed doors, sees her sister falling in and out of love, all the while dealing with heartbreaks herself. There's a lot of grief balancing on these pages, threatening to fall as you flip them. But there's also glimpses of love that acts as a salve. She writes with searing honesty by moulding her words into beautiful metaphors.
I may not be the first person to say this nor will I be the last but Megha's biggest strength is her ability to build stunning metaphors. There were times when my heart went 'Oh!' as I laid a palm on my beating chest. A soft sigh escaped my lips and I wanted to burrow myself into these pages and float on her words.
Megha's debut poetry book is much like a bittersweet memory, full of loss and love but one that always stays at the back of your mind. I strongly recommend this one.
Thank you for gifting this beautiful piece of magic to me @_megharao . I cannot wait to read more of your work
There are certain people in this world who make you look at words like never before. They string them together like delicate pearl necklaces, only more precious. Megha's words fall onto our bodies like rose petals, the ones that are ripped from its stem. So you see beauty but also the price it had to pay for being wanted. This cracker of a book became my instant favourite, making me ponder about how something less than a 100 pages can carry such tremendous power to make one feel things all the way to their toes.
Megha writes about her family in a way that makes you want to hug yours, to protect them from all things ugly and to assure them of your love. Growing up in Kerala with her two siblings and barely present parents, Megha becomes an adult way too early. She watches her brother put on makeup and try skirts behind closed doors, sees her sister falling in and out of love, all the while dealing with heartbreaks herself. There's a lot of grief balancing on these pages, threatening to fall as you flip them. But there's also glimpses of love that acts as a salve. She writes with searing honesty by moulding her words into beautiful metaphors.
I may not be the first person to say this nor will I be the last but Megha's biggest strength is her ability to build stunning metaphors. There were times when my heart went 'Oh!' as I laid a palm on my beating chest. A soft sigh escaped my lips and I wanted to burrow myself into these pages and float on her words.
Megha's debut poetry book is much like a bittersweet memory, full of loss and love but one that always stays at the back of your mind. I strongly recommend this one.
Thank you for gifting this beautiful piece of magic to me @_megharao . I cannot wait to read more of your work
singh_reads_kanwar2's review against another edition
5.0
The verse monologue revolve around a family comprising of 3 kids and two parents and few relatives too, and suicide note that elder sister found about her brother suicide. Written in Verse form a story of dysfunctional family.
The three kids go through bad and real life experiences. Turns out brother gets caught kissing and beaten up by dad for kissing neighbours boy. Sister gets bullied in school and narrator herself goes through a breakup, and try to commit suicide by overdosing on pills.
The poems use intense tones of pain, metaphor, sarcasm and anger and violent experiences which are painful and unforgiving. I thoroughly enjoyed the verse - everything comes in two's and exchange of beedi and lipstick is something extraordinary and sublime as siblings Sharing addiction is never heard of.
The poems did induce a bit of sympathy, but I would like to mention these appeal only to certain set of people, not everyone would feel inclined to read poetry where an individual tries to express his / her pain. I did feel the metaphors used in the book were very predictable.
Knowing someone is gay or likes men, why would he choose to marry a woman and why would even someone write poetry to bring out such a situation. Would you be acting on it or writing poetry on such stuffs?
All this because to make the society and relatives happy because of your moral less honour.
Although it was bold move that After a week of crying over leaked personal information to an entire college, someone prefer to step up write the entire thing out for an even greater public audience, to get acknowledged and force them to accept them as they are and don't be hypocrite.
Agree that love can happen during student years when you haven't yet found your teething in life but, Can it be ignored somehow that can reduce the trauma of an heartbreak.
The originality of the book can be judged that it's random verse written as remember and not in chronological manner in the book.
The three kids go through bad and real life experiences. Turns out brother gets caught kissing and beaten up by dad for kissing neighbours boy. Sister gets bullied in school and narrator herself goes through a breakup, and try to commit suicide by overdosing on pills.
The poems use intense tones of pain, metaphor, sarcasm and anger and violent experiences which are painful and unforgiving. I thoroughly enjoyed the verse - everything comes in two's and exchange of beedi and lipstick is something extraordinary and sublime as siblings Sharing addiction is never heard of.
The poems did induce a bit of sympathy, but I would like to mention these appeal only to certain set of people, not everyone would feel inclined to read poetry where an individual tries to express his / her pain. I did feel the metaphors used in the book were very predictable.
Knowing someone is gay or likes men, why would he choose to marry a woman and why would even someone write poetry to bring out such a situation. Would you be acting on it or writing poetry on such stuffs?
All this because to make the society and relatives happy because of your moral less honour.
Although it was bold move that After a week of crying over leaked personal information to an entire college, someone prefer to step up write the entire thing out for an even greater public audience, to get acknowledged and force them to accept them as they are and don't be hypocrite.
Agree that love can happen during student years when you haven't yet found your teething in life but, Can it be ignored somehow that can reduce the trauma of an heartbreak.
The originality of the book can be judged that it's random verse written as remember and not in chronological manner in the book.