A review by akhcreates
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A poetry collection focused on grief, both personal and communal.

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I am a Saeed Jones stan. I first encountered him when I worked on the Buzzfeed version of “upfronts” - showing off programming to advertisers/investors. He and Isaac Fitzgerald were quite charming, and I began following them on Twitter. Since then I have read both of his other books and I listen to his podcast Vibe Check with Sam Sanders and Zach Stafford. I was primed to love this collection, but also primed to be disappointed, considering how much I loved Saeed’s other work and that so many people I respect had already said they love it. But of course, I was far from disappointed.

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This poetry collection is absolutely fantastic. It had me feeling all of the feelings and wanting to learn more about some of the people or events referenced throughout the collection. Jones grapples with grief in all of his work, and this collection is no different. I love that Jones is willing to explore grief, and that many years of engaging through his writing and speaking means that he can explore the shades and nuances of grief over time. I think many people have astutely pointed out that the U.S. is not good with grief, or most “negative” emotions, and I think Jones is one of the artists generously showing us the way.