Reviews

Funeral Diva by Pamela Sneed

jessann235's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

5.0

zoe_gilmore's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

breanneporter's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is required reading. A beautiful and angry collection of poems and prose mostly focused on the Black male artists and writers lost to AIDS and the Black female poets and caretakers who  are too often overlooked. Pamela Sneed includes in her own work many references to the Greats - Audre Lorde and Toni Morrison and James Baldwin and more, and she interweaves tales from her life from either side of the AIDS epidemic, including her childhood, coming out, and most notably, her travels to Ghana and South Africa and life-altering experiences at Cape Coast. It made me want to read more Sneed as well as more Lorde, Morrison, Baldwin, plus June Jordan and Pat Parker. Highly recommend. 

oliviacsykes's review against another edition

5.0

5/5 i am gooped, gabbed, floored, so incredibly good and important and yes !! pamela is such a wonderful writer and just person it’s so obvious from how she writes about gay culture and race, what a woman. thank god for poeple like her.

thelifeoflynn's review against another edition

3.5

• Very different from what I am used to reading. Sometimes had difficulty with the style: probably partly because I’m not a native English speaker but also partly I also feel like it would come more to justice hearing it perform out loud.
• I really like the passion that shines through the entire book. Her life story was intriguing: impressed with what she overcame and the impact she made in others lives. Although some parts I felt were too negative but who am I to judge, even if it is “just” a feeling, the fact that it is there makes it valid and problematic, and I can never comprehend what it is to live through the challenges she had to.
• Quite a heavy and dark yet thought provoking book to start the year with.
• Favorite pieces: Never Again & Born Frees.
• Taking the mantra “I am going to write a new story” with me.

ewoods13's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

ennuii's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

morgan101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

emilyhays8's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

eelokez's review against another edition

5.0

There is much more than a lifetime in these poems and when she said it took her 16 years to write the first one (idk if that’s accurate, I already returned my library copy) it all made sense. Synthetic of some of my favorite writings but with the bruises of contemporary crises. All my admiration :’)