A review by reads2cope
Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson

5.0

But she has 

been home and 

not home 

she has been 

where her 

memories were   

–  

They were never 

in rooms or walls 

but in person 

in the living and dead 

and in the words 

with which she moved 

– 

Next time Grandma 

I intend to wear 

my kolt like you

The poetry flowed so well, I often got lost in the story and once almost missed my metro stop. The pain of losing traditional and family knowledge, the trauma and danger of assimilation, was so clearly but beautifully shown. I wish I had kept a list or family tree as I read because some of the jumps between characters and time became confusing, but I look forward to a doing that on a  re-read in the future. 

The ruling language 

drizzled over us 

Swedish words 

impossible to pronounce 

– 

They penetrated 

our clothes 

coated our skin 

– 

That needling eye 

– 

a rain through 

all that one loves

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Animal death, and Abandonment