Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

How to Cure a Ghost by Fariha Róisín

4 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

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

phoebe_l's review

emotional fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Mental illness

Moderate: Racism, Islamophobia, Sexism, and Sexual assault

littlerah's review

dark emotional reflective

 

I found I was not able to put this book down when I found it in a bookshop earlier this week. Fariha Roisin’s words combined with gorgeous detail by Monica Ramos and design by Diane Shaw is eye-catching and demands to be heard. 

Roisin writes about identity, about trauma, and about finding the balance of yourself between the elements of family and culture. I found her writing to be raw, but also soft enough to gently draw out the words into a series of beautiful poems. Watching Roisin try to find substance in her life was relatable and honest. 

i am bigger than
 this pain, a
 vortex of every
 narrative I’ve
 screamed together
 to have purpose
 frequency (13). 

Where Roisin writes of maternal trauma, sex and sexuality I felt the most at home. But she goes beyond this into critiques of society and racism. We read of her experiences of 9/11, her family’s experiences of wars undocumented on white media, of 1971. Roisin is careful and powerful. 

remember us, like you’d remember white death. Remember us with no guilt. Just remember that we lost so much more than what you’ve afforded us to lose (112).

For the most part I am struck by the power in Roisin’s writing, each word and comma. In other reviews I have seen curiosity about essays and nonfiction and I would echo these sentiments, hoping to see further exploration of writing styles. 

That said I enjoyed this collection. 

Favourites included: 

you feel me right, you feel me
 je ne suis pas folle
 loss becomes her
 how to become a ghost ii
 haruomi hosono
 sporting a new look
 it’s all love
 we go on sisters, we go on
 who’s right
 this one’s for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Mental illness