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physicalmediamp3's review
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Really beautiful. I would love to read more of A. Van Jordan’s work after this one.
katebirdie's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Infidelity and Alcoholism
jheinemann287's review
2.0
MacNolia Cox's story is devastating. But I didn't FEEL it in this collection as powerfully as I did while reading Claudia Rankine's [b:Citizen: An American Lyric|20613761|Citizen An American Lyric|Claudia Rankine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420944502s/20613761.jpg|39895091] or Yrsa Daley-Ward's [b:Bone|35084223|Bone|Yrsa Daley-Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494857481s/35084223.jpg|42059068]. I wish I had read more about MacNolia's story and the structure of the book before I had read it: According to A. Van Jordan, he tells the story in reverse chronological order so that its progression "is one of transcendence." I kind of feel like I should go back and reread it right away.
First line: "The melody seeps through her room / Like a bad man's walk, something sexy / In one step, something sinister / In the other."
First line: "The melody seeps through her room / Like a bad man's walk, something sexy / In one step, something sinister / In the other."
bibliovino's review
4.0
Watching the art of poetry alight on the page, transform on the turning, invent itself at each break, is like watching the formation of the universe at the Big Bang. Jordan takes this true story, a heartbreaking tale of triumph and loss, and stretches it like taffy over as many structures as he can, giving us an opus, a mural, a film, even a recipe that exposes the rancor of racial injustice that blights our nation. Powerful and evocative. A treat.
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