Scan barcode
A review by furny
Motherfield: Poems and Belarusian Protest Diary by Julia Cimafiejeva
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Belarus
The synopsis of this book is such a important key to truly understand the context of this book and the poetry. This is a harrowing situation many of us can only ever imagine. ( See below).
Julia Cimafiejeva was born in an area of rural Belarus that became a Chernobyl zone during her childhood. The book opens with a poet’s diary recording the course of violence unfolding in Belarus since its 2020 presidential election.
Motherfield paints an intimate portrait of the poet’s struggle with fear, despair, and guilt as she goes to protests, escapes police, longs for readership, learns about the detention of family and friends, and ultimately chooses life in exile. But can she really escape the contaminated farmlands of her youth and her Belarusian mother tongue? Can she escape the radiation of her motherfield?
As the book switches between reading like a novel, to poetry and between the translations you can feel the raw emotion of what is being experienced. It's tense, thought provoking and so poignant. It's heart-breaking yet told in a beautiful way.
The synopsis of this book is such a important key to truly understand the context of this book and the poetry. This is a harrowing situation many of us can only ever imagine. ( See below).
Julia Cimafiejeva was born in an area of rural Belarus that became a Chernobyl zone during her childhood. The book opens with a poet’s diary recording the course of violence unfolding in Belarus since its 2020 presidential election.
Motherfield paints an intimate portrait of the poet’s struggle with fear, despair, and guilt as she goes to protests, escapes police, longs for readership, learns about the detention of family and friends, and ultimately chooses life in exile. But can she really escape the contaminated farmlands of her youth and her Belarusian mother tongue? Can she escape the radiation of her motherfield?
As the book switches between reading like a novel, to poetry and between the translations you can feel the raw emotion of what is being experienced. It's tense, thought provoking and so poignant. It's heart-breaking yet told in a beautiful way.