A review by jayisreading
The Moon That Turns You Back: Poems by Hala Alyan

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

This isn’t my first time reading Alyan’s writings, and I think it’s safe to say that I prefer her prose over poetry. The poems in this collection didn’t really work for me, and I think it’s mainly a result of feeling disconnected from what I thought was a key theme: pregnancy and miscarriage. It’s a particular emotional weight that I won’t understand, which might be why I struggled. While I was sympathetic to Alyan’s grief that she carried while writing these poems, I didn’t find them nearly as poignant as other readers seem to have. I know this is a me problem, though, and it’s by no means the poems themselves having major issues.

I did find that I was more engaged with the poems that followed the themes of being part of the diaspora, as well as what it means to belong and be displaced. I felt that these poems appeared less frequently or perhaps were too quiet in delivery, which disappointed me a little, considering that the blurb leaned into these themes being central to the book. As a result, I felt that this collection was somewhat unbalanced.

Ultimately, I think I wasn’t the intended audience for this collection, which is fine; I’m still grateful to have read Alyan’s words. I’m definitely missing the key that connects all these themes together though, which would explain why these poems are residing together in the same collection.
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