Reviews

Victims of a Map: A Bilingual Anthology of Arabic Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish, Samih Al-Qasim, Adonis

ashkitty93's review

5.0

Intense work from all three poets.

On the day you kill me
You'll find in my pocket
Travel tickets
To peace,
To the fields and the rain,
To people's conscience.
Don't waste the tickets.
-- Travel Tickets, by Samih al-Qasim

My era tells me bluntly:
You do not belong.
I answer bluntly:
I do not belong,
I try to understand you.
Now I am a shadow
Lost in the forest
Of a skull.
from The Desert (The Diary of Beirut Under Siege, 1982), by Adonis

mira2022's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

zilha's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

alonidote's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Child death

ibtisam_n's review

reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

spacestationtrustfund's review

3.0

Read for research for Arab poetry paper

laydownyoursoul's review

5.0

Incredible. In particular, this was the first time I really sat down and read this much of Adonis' work, and his poems are a revelation. Get him his Nobel prize already! Masterful work from all three authors, who work really nicely alongside each other, while being very different. The translation was good, although there will always be some wordplay, images and devices that are extremely difficult to translate. Will definitely be reading again. Such an intense, enveloping experience. So many highlighted notes and images to go back to. Look forward to reading more from all of these authors.

lucyarditi's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

asm21's review

5.0

3 poets with 3 very different styles and energy. The mourning and sorrow in these poets are so tangible! I read this books as an introduction to Arabic poetry and oh boy if I was mesmerized by it. I have read somewhere that Adonis happens to be the most mature of these poets. Yet, I actually found my self liking the other 2 way more. Mahmud Darwish has this fantastic ability to convey hope and sorrow through beautiful imagery, I think a beautiful example "We are entitled to love Autumn". I loved Samih al-Qasim, his genius comes out especially in short poems that tickle you and makes you read them multiple times. The poem "Abandoning" had me sobbing, which was completely unexpected.