Reviews tagging 'War'

How to Cure a Ghost by Fariha Róisín

9 reviews

robinks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

I’ve been following this poet on IG for a while, and her powerful voice comes through in this collection as well. I also really loved the formatting, art, and color scheme of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Deportation, Murder, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abandonment, Grief, War, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cursing, Death, Drug use, and Sexual content

freddybingsu's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Islamophobia, Colonisation, Child abuse, War, Genocide, Hate crime, and Rape

penguinsquack's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Abortion, Genocide, Body shaming, and Cultural appropriation

inlaraland's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This was an experience from start to finish, reading each poem felt like I was taking a personal look into the the poet's life.

This work covers a number of different topics: race, gender, sexuality, islamaphobia, faith, racism, generational trauma and immigration. These topics all weave into the poet's work - with pieces trying to find some understanding while others have a full circle moment.

I have multiple tabs that accent the beautiful colors that bind these pages. This is probably my favorite poetry book that I have read this year.

This has the rawness of Halsey's "I Would Leave Me If I Could" with the depth of Warsan Shire's "Bless The Daughter Raised By The Voice In Her Head". If you were a fan of both works, then I think you might enjoy this one!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Islamophobia, War, Racism, and Misogyny

cryptidcas's review

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Sexual assault, War, Mental illness, Racism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Violence

codexqueen's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

A few gems scattered throughout, and some nice prose accompanied by beautiful illustrations. I appreciated the heavy emotions in the descriptions of the author’s multifaceted traumas and frustrations. 
My only griefs are that a lot of the selections the further I read became repetitive and a little too reminiscent of the sort of “shower thoughts” or “Instagram poetry” of contemporary writing (that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing personally). In retrospect, I think that this book might be better for some if read in short bursts or non consecutively.
Overall, this was a pretty average read, not bad by any means but I feel that the author is capable of better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Racism, Colonisation, and Islamophobia

parisa0npluto's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

this book presents this really powerful & poignant perspective of a queer muslim femme, and how she's navigating a world that wasn't built for her. she writes about how it feels to have your existence attacked, undermined, and overlooked by political institutions, the everyday man and the people around you. it discusses intersectionality in a range of different scenarios. it covers colonialism, love, diaspora, gender, displacement, belonging & also privilege. i love any kind of poet that can express themselves in such a broad and personal matter, as roisin did here. the collection comes alive when read aloud. bonus points for how beautifully formatted this book is— the colors, the illustration, and the layout are all absolutely lush— they made reading this collection feel decadent and fun.

 

some poems i really loved but a few of them read like instagram poetry, a novel of hers might be more my style. the lack of economy of language makes it feel like a work that is better suited for long-form/personal essays. but the writing was just  …. not as enjoyable as i wanted it to be. ever so often catchy phrases/cliches would throw me off the tracks of my previously more tranquil headspace. i’d love to read a short story collection by roisin but will be staying away from her poetry.  

a lot of the poems and the lines in the poems truly do resonate. it's just that it feels ... not quite there yet? the concept is there but there's something that falls short, something that doesn't feel quite as genuine as the author hopes. there were a lot of lines i highlighted but nothing that truly grabbed my heart and made me feel.

there are a few filler poems in here, which i wish had been edited out because they do kill the momentum at parts. i had huge expectations for this collection, i feel like it would've worked more if some pieces got furnished, or it was a bit shorter. my other critique of this book is that it doesn't flow together. each poem stands on its own; however, it seems a bit clunky when it's put all together. there was zero organization or cohesion among the poems that made this collection feel purposeful.

favorites: 
you feel me right, you feel me?
plastic bags inside another plastic bag to carry said plastic bags
je ne suis pas folle
1971
under the golden hour
it's all love
golden lube
mansplain nation
the one's with teeth
what 9/11 did to us
belonging
we go on sisters, we go on
unlearning

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and War

losethegirl's review

emotional reflective sad

4.5

I really liked this book. It gave me a lot more insight into experiences that weren't mine, and the poetry in it was genuinely beautiful. There were some poems I couldn't connect with, which I think was more my own fault than the fault of the author. Be sure to look at content warnings before you read this book, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Islamophobia, War, and Xenophobia

candournat's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Racism, War, Eating disorder, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide