Reviews

Harlem Shadows: Poems by Claude McKay

berrycedar's review

Go to review page

Is a good collection! Will recommend. Breaks the barriers of what sonnets can be.

mkw's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective fast-paced

5.0

blueberryajax's review

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

3.0

ltwardwriter's review

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

mold_munchr's review

Go to review page

reflective

3.0

I loved a few of them but found most of this book very mid

lamphouse's review against another edition

Go to review page

favorites:
-"Alfonso, Dressing to Wait at Table"
-"On Broadway"
-"Subway Wind"
-"Poetry"

blob's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

2.25

lilyreads01's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

3camels's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

lezreadalot's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I will come out, back to your world of tears,
A stronger soul within a finer frame.

3.5 stars. Really lovely! At first I just thought this collection was okay; I wished it would touch more on Jamaica and immigration than it did, and also, a lot of the poems rhyme and are metred. That isn't always my favourite form of poetry, if it isn't precisely and skilfully done, because with a lot of poets it tends to sound forced, as if they're trying to choke the idea into the format, and trim the edges so it fits. And I have to say, a few of these poems did feel like that to me, and I found myself wondering what they would sound like in free verse. But about halfway through the collection, things just sorta picked up, and I started enjoying it a lot more. Especially just for the poetic language, and how he spoke about romance. A lot of pretty phrasing. I do kinda wish there'd been more dialect, but, ah well. Listened to the audiobook as read by Ron Butler, which was pretty okay. Not my favourite performance from him, but good. I'd love to read more of McKay's poetry, especially his works about Jamaica.