Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

17 reviews

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

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I read these poems slowly, just a few every day, and I highly recommend. I feel like usually I’m rushing through books, trying to read as much as possible; it was so nice to just take it slow with this one and really absorb the poems.

Touching on ideas of grief, memory, and identity, these poems also dig in to collective trauma, and what it’s like to experience tragedy together. She uses letters from history to reflect on present-day events, and even the formatting of her words have meaning (for example, the words of one poem form an image of a whale).

Honestly, my words can’t do these poems justice, so I’m just gonna say—even if you don’t usually read poetry, there’s something here for you. I recommend for anyone who needs some reflection on the past two years.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Death, Racism, and War

anniereads221's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Police brutality, Grief, Violence, and Racism

liwolf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and War