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manureads's reviews
151 reviews
Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warning: Everything by Akwaeke Emezi
4.5
CONTENT WARNING: EVEYTHING is Akwaeke Emezi’s debut poetry collection (but sixth published work). Impeccably crafted and with writing that flows, Emezi explores abuse and survival, healing, desire and chosen family. I adored the “What if” poems, and I found it was an interesting collection to read in discussion with their memoir “Dear Senthuran.” Overall, a very touching collection of poems, very much in line with Emezi’s unique voice and style.
On a more technical note, this collection illustrates how good editing can elevate a work: while each poem individually was striking, the way they were organized told a story as well. There’s a buildup, up until the title poem “Content Warning: Everything” which brings together the motifs and themes of the collection, and then the final two poems wind you back down to drop you off more gently at the end. Don’t underestimate the title though, CW for mentions of rape and suicide attempts.
“To survive you, i press my skin away
Flatten my want and break the necks
of my dreams, making them dead diamonds”
-Folding for a cruel man
“[…] still i scream above the wind the howling storm I, poltergeist with a life that matters, that matters to me.”
-When the Hurricane Comes the Men Protect their Brothers
Meet Me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Overall, I enjoyed this collection. The worlds Kameron Hurley creates are creative and terrifying and many of the characters are delightfully queer, disabled, and fat and are given the space to be wonderful and messy and grow.
Yet, I agree that Kameron Hurley is a novelist at heart, more than a short story writer. I found that sometimes, the stories either didn't have time to give us context or tried to give us so much information there was some confusion as to what was going on. I got frustrated with Enyo-Enyo because I liked what it was trying to do and I love when Kameron Hurley plays with our perception of time, but there wasn't enough there for me to grasp what was going on. I adored The Light Brigade as a novel, but the short story version fell a bit flat.
Still, most of the stories were memorable and the writing is striking. My two personal favorites were Garda and Tumbledown. I will give the warning that the majority of the collection is pretty dark and centered on war and conflict, so make sure you are ready for that. For people new to Kameron Hurley, I would recommend starting with one of her novels, but for fans of hers this is a great snack to tide us over until the next one.
Yet, I agree that Kameron Hurley is a novelist at heart, more than a short story writer. I found that sometimes, the stories either didn't have time to give us context or tried to give us so much information there was some confusion as to what was going on. I got frustrated with Enyo-Enyo because I liked what it was trying to do and I love when Kameron Hurley plays with our perception of time, but there wasn't enough there for me to grasp what was going on. I adored The Light Brigade as a novel, but the short story version fell a bit flat.
Still, most of the stories were memorable and the writing is striking. My two personal favorites were Garda and Tumbledown. I will give the warning that the majority of the collection is pretty dark and centered on war and conflict, so make sure you are ready for that. For people new to Kameron Hurley, I would recommend starting with one of her novels, but for fans of hers this is a great snack to tide us over until the next one.
The Good Arabs by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch
There’s being Arab & there’s being queer & then there is the intersection of the two where this collection fits beautifully. Travelling from post-explosion Beirut to Montreal in the summer, The Good Arabs is an exploration of identity: first at the personal level, what it means to be queer and trans and to feel at home in your body, and also at the macro level, what makes you arab & what is the line between being a tourist or being at home in your family’s country.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
THE GOOD ARABS by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch: “The energy it takes to fight across a table about the importance of human life is disastrous & yet we must do it & yet we must trY” - From: & if my people
There’s being Arab & there’s being queer & then there is the intersection of the two where this collection fits beautifully. Travelling from post-explosion Beirut to Montreal in the summer, The Good Arabs is an exploration of identity: first at the personal level, what it means to be queer and trans and to feel at home in your body, and also at the macro level, what makes you arab & what is the line between being a tourist or being at home in your family’s country.
I’m not sure what makes a good poetry collection, other than when I get the tingling « this sentence makes me feel things » feeling, over and over. There are deeply intimate details to me in those poems, I was surprised to find them there, but they scratched that need of being seen so nicely, of course I enjoyed it. Objectively, however, there is also a lot to love. Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch has beautiful prose and shows us they also master form - there is a vilannelle in there, which is a form difficult to get right! Overall, I highly recommend you read this, there is a lot to discover.
“My Khalo is dead and for today, I hold space only for this singular grief. Tomorrow I will grieve my country.” - from: Do You Run When You Hear the Sound of a Loud Crack
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
“Maybe this living is a balance of drunkenness
off nitrogen and the unbearable
atmosphere of memory”
- Isn’t the Air Also a Body, Moving?
Postcolonial Love Poem is a pulitzer prize-winning collection by queer author Natalie Diaz. In this skillfully crafted collection, Diaz speaks of love, freedom in basketball, the persistence of culture & ceremony in colonialism, solidarity & kinship and water, land & the environment.
My favorite poems were definitely the ALL of the water ones, How the Milky Way Was Made and From the Desire Field. I think in in every collection there will be poems we deeply connect with and others not necessarily, but even the poems that didn’t resonate with me in this one were excellent. Diaz’s use of language is stellar and inspiring and I re-read several lines over and over just to better drink them in.
off nitrogen and the unbearable
atmosphere of memory”
- Isn’t the Air Also a Body, Moving?
Postcolonial Love Poem is a pulitzer prize-winning collection by queer author Natalie Diaz. In this skillfully crafted collection, Diaz speaks of love, freedom in basketball, the persistence of culture & ceremony in colonialism, solidarity & kinship and water, land & the environment.
My favorite poems were definitely the ALL of the water ones, How the Milky Way Was Made and From the Desire Field. I think in in every collection there will be poems we deeply connect with and others not necessarily, but even the poems that didn’t resonate with me in this one were excellent. Diaz’s use of language is stellar and inspiring and I re-read several lines over and over just to better drink them in.