A review by leanneymu
The World's Wife: Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

challenging funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I wanted to like this collection more than I did. Though I respect Duffy for writing from the perspective of some unlikeable women, it did make it harder for the poems to resonate for me. I did enjoy some of the poems, but quite a few didn't hit for me. Also, this collection is over 20 years old, and some of the attitudes expressed by the poems' narrators have not aged well. (With a content note for transphobia in one poem.) If nothing else, it's an interesting time capsule for late nineties ideas about the relationships between (heterosexual) men and women. 
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