A review by alanffm
Inventory by Dionne Brand

1.0

Nihilistic, poorly written, and boring. Inventory explores the negative impacts of globalization on Western culture in, frankly, unoriginal and unhelpful ways. Through seven poems addressing different issues, Brand tries to show that responsibility for the planet should have come before responsibility for one's own happiness--but that it does not matter anyway since we are all already screwed. The examples she provides to make her point-- that of a woman finding the news cycle unbearable to watch, an exploration of the complete cultural decimation of Native Americans, and an uncomfortable walk through Cairo, among other examples-- are unoriginal and did not resonate with me at all.

The work feels simplistic and does not possess the layered complexity one hopes to find in real literature.