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bibliosol's review
4.0
I think it's about time to write my first book review on here, and this is a good one to begin with.
I read this book for a capstone class on postcolonial women writers, and I'm glad that I read it despite the frustration I felt while reading it. I'm giving it four stars because of the creativity of this text which gives the reader an experience, not a novel. That's something I can get behind, even if this was a challenging read.
If you're working on this book, I recommend listening to a live reading so you can keep some of that in your mind while you read it yourself. After that, your should literally read it aloud to yourself--it's so helpful. That's because this text begs to be a performance (which it actually was before it was written). Furthermore, it falls less into the novel genre and more into the affective text genre (yep, *A*ffective, not effective). It should therefore make you feel something (like, actually experience certain emotions) when you read it. I think that this text seeks to emulate the frustrating, confusing, fearful, shameful, and painful experiences of those who were involved in the event the book describes upon the ship Zong.
I read this book for a capstone class on postcolonial women writers, and I'm glad that I read it despite the frustration I felt while reading it. I'm giving it four stars because of the creativity of this text which gives the reader an experience, not a novel. That's something I can get behind, even if this was a challenging read.
If you're working on this book, I recommend listening to a live reading so you can keep some of that in your mind while you read it yourself. After that, your should literally read it aloud to yourself--it's so helpful. That's because this text begs to be a performance (which it actually was before it was written). Furthermore, it falls less into the novel genre and more into the affective text genre (yep, *A*ffective, not effective). It should therefore make you feel something (like, actually experience certain emotions) when you read it. I think that this text seeks to emulate the frustrating, confusing, fearful, shameful, and painful experiences of those who were involved in the event the book describes upon the ship Zong.
pedantichumbug's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Once you get a grip on the flow of these poems and surrender yourself to their rhythm, the ink on paper will come alive and move you on a visceral level. I guess the best way of truly reflecting grief and trauma in literature is to really tear it all down, to unsettle, and mutilate all language, established forms and conventions. Because death really is unsayable and all those atrocities of colonization and slavery unrepresentable. Still, there is "a story that cannot be told, yet must be told."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Slavery
ester30's review
After some careful thought, I have decided not to give this book a rating. The reason behind this is that this text is extremely important, but I don't want my complicated thoughts on the author and her intention to be conflated.
Philip takes apart the well known 1781 two-page Zong case and strategically separates and rearranges them to create a haunting and mournful masterpiece.
The form and content that Philip uses within her poetry enables marginalized writers to create from intergenerational trauma which can be observed from her silent spaces and the violence it assumes, the function of archival documentation, the multitude of voices, and a form that mimics water. The discussion of Zong and the abilities it undertakes through different forms is essential to the dialogue of the uprising of the Black Lives Matter Movement, especially right now as the George Floyd case is still in process.
The reason why I am a bit perplexed is at the authority that Philip possesses, despite claiming none. She creates a text that is complicated and calls for attentive readers to create meaningful connections. However, at the same time after reading many reviews I wonder if she overcomplicated the poems to the point where the reader overlooks her poetry as random or nonsensical. I also wonder if by 'not telling the story that must be told' if she's actually silencing the submerged victims that were jettisoned off the Zong ship which is the opposite of what she wanted to do. Nevertheless, in a way she did include the voices, but only to those who listen attentively, to those who understand the complexities of our colonized language, to those who feel the utterances of the drowned voices through her tidalectic writing, and through the loud silences.
Philip takes apart the well known 1781 two-page Zong case and strategically separates and rearranges them to create a haunting and mournful masterpiece.
The form and content that Philip uses within her poetry enables marginalized writers to create from intergenerational trauma which can be observed from her silent spaces and the violence it assumes, the function of archival documentation, the multitude of voices, and a form that mimics water. The discussion of Zong and the abilities it undertakes through different forms is essential to the dialogue of the uprising of the Black Lives Matter Movement, especially right now as the George Floyd case is still in process.
The reason why I am a bit perplexed is at the authority that Philip possesses, despite claiming none. She creates a text that is complicated and calls for attentive readers to create meaningful connections. However, at the same time after reading many reviews I wonder if she overcomplicated the poems to the point where the reader overlooks her poetry as random or nonsensical. I also wonder if by 'not telling the story that must be told' if she's actually silencing the submerged victims that were jettisoned off the Zong ship which is the opposite of what she wanted to do. Nevertheless, in a way she did include the voices, but only to those who listen attentively, to those who understand the complexities of our colonized language, to those who feel the utterances of the drowned voices through her tidalectic writing, and through the loud silences.