Reviews

Maleficae by Emma Bolden

sarahfonseca's review

Go to review page

4.0

Just got a hell of a history lesson.

rodneywilhite's review

Go to review page

5.0

Every poem is filled with wonder; each has some miraculous, dark turn that makes me think about the violence inherent in language and our Western/European/Judeo-Christian concept of gender. I really don't know what to say; I'm afraid that trying to explain it will spoil the magic.

One of my new all-time favorites.

laurelinwonder's review

Go to review page

5.0

I inhaled inhaled this collection today, and now as I am still digesting, it is difficult to come up with the right words, with the right review for a highly intelligent, researched collection that just kind of blew my mind. I found myself alternately raging about how women "witches" were treated, how they were viewed, and how they suffered at the hands of ignorance. When not raging about that, I was so taken with Bolden's style and lyrical landscape, that left me breathless at times, because it was so precise, lovely, and terrible heartbreaking in content. This is not an overly emotional, or retelling of the Salem witch trials, this is something completely new, something vivid, startling, raw, and full of veins pulsing beneath the surface. READ this!

alisham's review

Go to review page

5.0

A book of poems that should be read aloud. Not just for the sounds of the words and phrases, but the way they feel in your mouth. Truly a masterwork of sound and rhythm. All incantation and alliteration. Truly a striking and breathless book.
More...