Reviews

Gabriela Mistral’s “lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world” won her the prize in 1945. Madwomen is a series of poems about women - some real, others not; some who will be familiar from the Bible, Greek mythology and history. They aren’t actually mad/insane but are sometimes perceived that way by others. Rather they are strong and incredibly human but facing difficult, almost impossible situations. Some of the poems are almost viscerally emotional, packed with powerful imagery and turns of phrase which brought me up short. I didn’t have a favourite per se but loved coming across Clytemnestra to soon after finishing a book about her and being able to compare Mistrals’s take with that of the novelist - a wonderful case of bookish serendipity. I really appreciated that this collection included a comprehensive biography of Mistral, as well as a lengthy translators note which gave some fascinating insights into the hows and whys of the translation process.

dosojosazules's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.25

octavia_cade's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

I freely admit that I picked this up because of the cover - it turned out to be poetry, but I like poetry so that's alright! As the title makes plain, it's a collection of poems about women who, while not actually mad, can be perceived that way by more, shall we say, conventional thinkers. Many of them are about anonymous women, but there are a handful of poems on legendary or mythological figures, primarily Greek or Trojan women such as Cassandra, for instance.

While I enjoyed them all, I still think the cover's the most appealing thing about this collection for me. There were a small number of poems that I liked more than the others - "She Who Waits" pulled this up to three and a half stars by main strength, otherwise the collection as a whole would have got three. It's a fantastic poem, though, and it's worth reading the collection just for that one.

This is a bilingual collection; I feel I should note this because I don't read Spanish, so I had to content myself with what I can only presume is the very competent English translation. I did find the translator's notes at the beginning quite interesting, and it brings home, I think, the particular challenge of translating poetry. So much depends on rhythm and meter, and it makes me wish I were better at languages so that I could read more work in the original.

milapng's review against another edition

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5.0

These poems about women, a series of dramatic monologues about both mythical and earthly women, read as contemporary, vital, and necessary poems. Like the winepress, extracting grape juice to produce aromatic wines, these poems are best tasted on the tongue, in two languages, while read out loud.

hannahlamond's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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