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xaqrii's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt
tyelperinquar's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Alcohol, Car accident, Incest, and Suicide
Minor: Cancer
feliciaguestwrites's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Grief
savvy999's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Sexual content
blackberryjambaby's review against another edition
4.75
Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Suicide
Minor: Blood
ace_b's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Blood
mmiski's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Body horror, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cancer, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Self harm, and Sexual violence
penofpossibilities's review
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual content, Hate crime, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Self harm, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Medical content, and Murder
Minor: Cancer, Religious bigotry, and Police brutality
norrell's review against another edition
2.25
a. hands
b. glass
c. death and blood
d. knives and guns
e. stars
+the language of passion, mourning and violence
etc.
It’s also really gay.
All of this half-joking sentiment aside - the language is accessible and sometimes surprisingly rich, the thoughts not so much. Funnily enough, roughly half of the lines perplexed me while the other half seemed so… uninspired, bland - cliché if you will. Although I must admit a few stuck around (the liked quotes and a few other lines).
There is a grander emotional narrative being spun but all in all the poems moreso overlap and mingle, with leitmotifs galore, rather than form a story.
Much of the deeper meaning escapes me as I haven’t been able to scratch under the surface yet. This is possibly due to my dislike of Siken’s way of writing poetry, the sheer (literal and thematic) repetition of it bludgeoned any patience and interest left in me (as it rarely worked, in my opinion). I don’t know.
But there’s something missing, unfulfilling here. The collection felt like flashing images.
To conclude, Richard Siken’s poetry just doesn't speak to me and I've made my peace with that fact.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
dowsa's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
“We are all going forward, none of us are going back.”
I love when books give me so many quotes that it’s hard to pick just one! I missed poetry so I went on google and searched “love poems about grief” and one of Siken’s poems in this collection came up. This was a wonderful read, it gave me chills at times, confused me at times. I started reading this book (collection?) because I wanted to be inspired about writing through pain, and loving through loss. And I think it delivered just that.
Graphic: Violence and Suicide
Minor: Drug abuse