Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

If They Come for Us: Poems by Fatimah Asghar

9 reviews

bookishmillennial's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

An absolutely stunning collection of poetry that was haunting, devastating, and powerful. Asghar’s creativity shines in the way they experiment with formats, such as crosswords, fill-in-the-blank, and more (typically) playful concepts yet presenting such grim and upsetting material. Asghar provides the historical context which is woven into many of the poems: the Indian/Pakistani Partition, which is another example of Great Britain fucking shit up for everyone. 

I highly recommend this, and want my own physical copy now 💟

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Genocide, Sexual violence, War, Xenophobia, and Body shaming

wellgonomorearoving's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Genocide, Death of parent, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape

yinflower's review

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Islamophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and War

bibliorama's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

How do you review a poem or a book of poems? I have no idea.

I don't read enough poetry to feel like I could give a decent review, so take my star rating with a grain of salt.

I liked many of the poems in this collection. The standouts to me were "Kal" "Partition, 1945: my grandfather steps off a train in Jammu & Kashmir" "How we left: Film Treatment" and "Other Body"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, Bullying, Racism, Sexual content, War, Body shaming, Child death, Hate crime, and Islamophobia

lingfish7's review

dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

📖This collection of poetry is deep, melancholy, and reflective. This is the first poetry book I’ve read that centers on the Pakistan India partition. The partition was a brutal time in the 1940’s that tore India into two countries based off culture and religion (Pakistani Muslims and Indian Hindus). Every Pakistani family has a partition story, and Fatimah’s poetry is such a beautiful way to process that collective, generational trauma. The partition is such an important world event that every person and culture should learn about and this poetry book is a powerful introduction to beginners. 

🏳️‍🌈Since publishing this poetry book, Fatimah now identifies as non-binary and so this was a perfect poetry book club read for pride month. Fatimah has a poem in this collection called “Other body” that specifically talks about gender nonconformity. Thanks to @jenny for choosing this book for our poetry club. It was such a deep and informative read!

🌻Note: For fans of Rupi Kuar (author of the sun and her flowers), this book reminded me of her poetry collections in many ways, including topics and tone.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

counterfeitnickel's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

A deeply personal and emotionally impactful work. Displays in uncomfortable detail the impact of inter generational trauma.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

ukponge's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, War, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Violence

softgalaxy's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

Amazing poetry. Felt it to my core. Didn’t hold back at all. Was stunned at some of the poems, how visually stunning they were.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Blood, Body shaming, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying

itskayleighlove's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Islamophobia, and Xenophobia