Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

23 reviews

lahars_little_library's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

After listening to Amanda Gordon's collection of poems on audio, I am wishing I had a paper copy to mark all my favorite poems and quotes. As with all collections or anthologies you may not connect with every single poem. But I found that those I did (which was the vast majority) were so throught-provoking and had such exquisite use of language that I cannot help but give 5 stars. The Poem Survey followed by Gated should be required reading. It was so striking.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Death, Grief, and Police brutality

Minor: Mass/school shootings

sophtanda's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Really enjoyed it, it definitely felt reflective of the start of covid and the first lockdown, it was also very interesting as the style of the poems changed making each to feel refreshing 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, War, Grief, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Police brutality

hmetwade's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Grief, Police brutality, Medical content, and Racism

readandfindout's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Racism, Grief, Death, Slavery, Violence, and Medical trauma

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective sad

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Slavery, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Police brutality, and Racism

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Oh yeah, this book is goonna go down in history for, at the very least, almost perfectly capturing the feelings we had during the moments we lived through between November 2019 and August 2021. I'm always a sucker for time travel in movies and tv, but mixing the distant past with the present? More than that, using the direct words of the past as if they were said in the present?! Future historians, it's all here. It's all there. It's all real. It made me uncomfortable a couple times but that's because the wound is still fresh. As said in some of the poems, it's still ongoing. I'm sure I'll read this again in 10 20 30 60 years with a familiar hindsight and vague rememberance, and probably feel as sick to my stomach as I feel now. But, not a bad sick. A sad sick. Mourning sickness. We'll never not mourn, even if we forget. But with this book at least a part of us will always remember.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Death, Medical content, Racism, Confinement, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, and Xenophobia

aargot1's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Grief

COVID-19 pandemic

thereadingnurse2021's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Police brutality

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, and Medical trauma

There are many content warnings for this set of poems, but that is because it is a cry for change. How can we ever make the world a better place if we do not first confront the wrongs that have been put into it? Yes, this text hurts. Yes, it will make you angry. But that’s because it’s supposed to. It is meant to inspire action.

rosalind's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

1.5

I saw a review on Goodreads where someone called this collection ‘unbearably didactic,’ and that about sums it up for me. I can always respect someone who loves language and likes to play with words, but these linguistic games don’t always bequeath some revelatory truth. Sometimes it’s just a spoonerism, babes.

Also, for the love of Lady Gaga’s dove brooch, Amanda, please put yourself on an alliteration ban. Sometimes stylistic selections succeed, but soon a surplus can sully the savour and royally f*** off your reader. Sorry.

There are some really lovely moments in this collection, but ultimately comes across as a monopolisation on a moment, which is fine, get that dollar. I wish AG so well, and I hope her craft flourishes. But for my taste, a lot of ‘Call Us What We Carry’ should have stayed in drafts. Like, a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, and Police brutality

Moderate: Slavery

lexa's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

3.75

Beautifully narrated by the author. The parts in the middle (historical) dragged a bit and we’re hard to piece together, but I enjoyed many of the other poems. I went into this book without knowing much about it and wasn’t quite prepared for all the pandemic content. But it was overall good. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Police brutality, and Racism

COVID-19 pandemic