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A review by teelight
In the Mecca by Gwendolyn Brooks
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I very much appreciate Gwendolyn Brooks' use of language. It's very direct and to the point. It feels like listening to some one in the American heartland/midwest.
The first poem took a couple of tries for me to start to understand. If this was a short story collection I probably would have given up on the book if the first story was confusing, but at least for me I usually have a harder time catching on to poetry in the first go. I usually have to read it a few times. So I'm not sure if that's going to necessarily be the case for other readers. Once I started to get what is happening in the poem it felt like a gut punch. The other poems in this collection are great too, but In the Mecca is definitely the star of the show. At least in my eyes.
I would recommend this to pretty much anyone. For some reason I had a hard time finding Brooks' work in print and when I did the only copies for sale were from libraries. Brooks' was the poet laureate of Illinois for over 30 years, she is well worth the effort to read. I don't know if anyone else will have trouble finding her works, but this may be a case where walking down the public library may be the best option.
The first poem took a couple of tries for me to start to understand. If this was a short story collection I probably would have given up on the book if the first story was confusing, but at least for me I usually have a harder time catching on to poetry in the first go. I usually have to read it a few times. So I'm not sure if that's going to necessarily be the case for other readers. Once I started to get what is happening in the poem it felt like a gut punch. The other poems in this collection are great too, but In the Mecca is definitely the star of the show. At least in my eyes.
I would recommend this to pretty much anyone. For some reason I had a hard time finding Brooks' work in print and when I did the only copies for sale were from libraries. Brooks' was the poet laureate of Illinois for over 30 years, she is well worth the effort to read. I don't know if anyone else will have trouble finding her works, but this may be a case where walking down the public library may be the best option.