A review by lezreadalot
Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay

4.0

I will come out, back to your world of tears,
A stronger soul within a finer frame.

3.5 stars. Really lovely! At first I just thought this collection was okay; I wished it would touch more on Jamaica and immigration than it did, and also, a lot of the poems rhyme and are metred. That isn't always my favourite form of poetry, if it isn't precisely and skilfully done, because with a lot of poets it tends to sound forced, as if they're trying to choke the idea into the format, and trim the edges so it fits. And I have to say, a few of these poems did feel like that to me, and I found myself wondering what they would sound like in free verse. But about halfway through the collection, things just sorta picked up, and I started enjoying it a lot more. Especially just for the poetic language, and how he spoke about romance. A lot of pretty phrasing. I do kinda wish there'd been more dialect, but, ah well. Listened to the audiobook as read by Ron Butler, which was pretty okay. Not my favourite performance from him, but good. I'd love to read more of McKay's poetry, especially his works about Jamaica.