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A review by rhizome
The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Loved most of the poems in here. Little red cap, mrs. beast and a couple others really stood out to me. But it was also very repetitive and I feel the topic was a little too narrow to be a complete collection.
I read poetry usually out of order, and it happened that the last poem I read was the one about Tiresias. That one poem ruined the entire book for me. It is probably one of the most transphobic things I have read in a published book. I think this book is steeped in gender essentialism which is far more bearable when talking about ostensibly cisgender straight men. I do not feel pity for men, don't get me wrong BUT I think the rhetoric of "men are inherently evil/selfish/etc" very quickly veers off into transphobia in the way that essentialists view manhood and masculinity as almost an "original sin" that somehow a trans woman (who is NOT a man to begin with) cannot escape from that "marking".
Very surprised that people think of this as some "feminist tome" so to speak. It was extremely alienating to read as a trans person.
I read poetry usually out of order, and it happened that the last poem I read was the one about Tiresias. That one poem ruined the entire book for me. It is probably one of the most transphobic things I have read in a published book. I think this book is steeped in gender essentialism which is far more bearable when talking about ostensibly cisgender straight men. I do not feel pity for men, don't get me wrong BUT I think the rhetoric of "men are inherently evil/selfish/etc" very quickly veers off into transphobia in the way that essentialists view manhood and masculinity as almost an "original sin" that somehow a trans woman (who is NOT a man to begin with) cannot escape from that "marking".
Very surprised that people think of this as some "feminist tome" so to speak. It was extremely alienating to read as a trans person.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia