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davidup_15's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Holland-Batt proves herself an absolute master of language in this book, squeezing every emotion she possibly can out of words. I absolutely loved and devoured the entire first half; the sense of the poetic speaker's voice is really strong, and her word use is sophisticated while managing to never seem pretentious. She viscerally explores the process of losing a parent to disease, and the myriad emotions one feels at such an experience. The set of poems in the second half regarding her experience travelling around Europe were a little less interesting to me, perhaps because it is less of a raw and compelling experience, but her voice as a writer is still wonderfully clear. This book gave me a new appreciation for just what poetry can do.