Reviews with content warning for Sexism - I Hope This Finds You Well

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

13 reviews

eryncaroline's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

4.0

This book of poems was such a quick read, but mostly cause I was enthralled at how clever Baer's style is. It's unique and makes incredibly hard-hitting poetry out of only a few words that still pack-a-punch. Taking both beautiful comments and hateful comments and turning them into something thought-provoking around women and the female-experience. This was given to me as a gift, and I am very glad these poems found me.

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

4.5

Kate’s poetry is so smart and I love the concept of erasure poetry, which is executed so well here.

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5

The writing, the diction, and the word choice are not entirely dependent on Baer, as they are coming from source materials, but some poems shined through in a way only done through a good poet. Other poems, though, fell short, almost suggesting a shortness of thought or consideration given. Sometimes the source stood out more than the erasure when it should always land the other way. Overall, the collection contains truly stunning moments, but I found myself starved a bit between the stunning moments by really nothing substantial to live off of.

Approach: 3.5⭐️/5

I’m a bit torn here. The concept of the poetry is fantastic; the execution is less so. Where I didn’t love the approach was with the inclusion of some positive sources – not because of their positivity, but because the erasure form seemed to only mimic their point and not become its own thing. What I did like about the approach is what I like about all erasure poetry: it cuts away from a source to reveal something new. Certain poems in the collection did this with both ease and precision, slicing at the words to uncover something else so beautiful or so perfectly said that I couldn’t help but love it. But the poems just didn’t always do that.

Forms 3.5⭐️/5

This blends slightly with my point on the approach, but I did feel like sometimes Baer used the source too much, leaving it almost in its original form rather than pulling words back from its source to create something new. I wanted a bit more in terms of making the piece its own thing.

Who Should Read This Book?

Feminist poets
Fans of erasure poems
Those who like a bit of politics in their poetry
Those who want a bit of biteback in a poem

Content Warnings?

Misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, sexual assault, bullying, emotional abuse, physical abuse, violence, racism, homophobia, pregnancy

Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5

Some poems were truly stunning. Others definitely fell short. A short but worthwhile read.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

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james1star's review against another edition

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informative inspiring fast-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed this poetry collection and will for sure be checking out Baer’s previous work. In ‘I hope this finds you well’ the author uses erasure of words to concoct her own pieces and these are in some ways a flex because essentially she’s turning hate into love. The majority of the pre-edited pieces are unsolicited advice, spam-like emails, outward misogynistic comments and other things like articles or speeches. Most are hateful in their nature and I loved the way Baer turns them into uplifting, positive poems focusing on feminist ideals, also other issues like racial and sexuality discrimination are mentioned too. In a way this collection can be seen as a work of art highlighting the harassment women face on the daily and the metamorphosis into something insightful is both beautiful and historical in nature. Looking back this will be good as a time capsule for the way women are treated online at the time and it also touches on the pandemic too. I think the negative words changed the most and I did really like these but there are also some messages/emails of love and appreciation that make for truly sublime poems too. My favourite of the collection ‘Re: My Daughter’s Struggles’ is the last and fits this category, it goes like this (I’ve put the message and poem all together instead of the way it’s formatted in the book):

‘Hi! I found your profile recently when a friend posted one of your poems to her stories. I just loved the way that you're able to repurpose words from nasty messages you get from strangers, I don't police my teenage daughter's social media, but I know she gets messages similar to the ugly ones you receive - apparently all women do. I'm horrified at what harassment women must simply accept as the "price to pay" for existing online. That you're able to turn these ugly and hateful messages into something different, something uplifting, just really touches some unknowable thing inside me. It gives me hope. I'll never deal with my daughter's online struggles, I'll never know what she knows. But by sharing your page with her, I can hope she's able to see whatever horrible words come to her DMs as what they are- words. Words she can define herself, rearrange and repurpose to take away their intent to harm. Thank you so much for giving this dad some much needed hope in these hopeless times!’

And this becomes…

‘my daughter's "price to pay" touches some unknowable thing inside me I'll never know what she knows. But I can hope she's able to see herself and repurpose harm in hopeless times’

Another poem I liked that she made is as follows (again all placed together unlike in the book):

‘how the dead must cringe at our resistance to look as if we’ve lived’

I hope this gives an idea of what she does but there is a lot of variety throughout. I’d so recommend this and I love how Baer is basically flexing her skill to one up the haters turning their words into something nice, love is always stronger than hate.

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leannanecdote's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

2.75

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thndrkat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

Erasures and found poems on themes of feminism, liberalism, and love, created from mainly hateful or prejudiced online comments. Quiet, determined acts of witness.

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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inspiring fast-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

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

I love the way Kate Baer managed to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear with I Hope This Finds You Well. She’s taken sexist, racist, fat phobic, misogynistic and other offensive statements, some from her from her DMs and some from public sources, blacked out some words, and thus transformed the messages into ones of beauty, joy, resilience and/or a totally warranted FU to the patriarchy. An uplifting collection of erasure poems.

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