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sadie_g's review
dark
emotional
reflective
2.75
Really interesting concept and look into these powerful female characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Violence
peppypenguin's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting collection of stories about the representation of women in stories and media. It covers a variety of issues, references a variety of stories, and manages to be consistently interesting. While I don't find the poems themselves particularly amazing, the content is great.
starryeved's review against another edition
4.0
"Why do you keep creating us half-human,
with bat wings, dragon scales, luminous green skin,
as if you can't appreciate ordinary woman anymore,
as if you fear what lies beneath?"
A collection of poetry regarding obscure folktales and mythology and contemporary fads, likened to the newly-polished edge of a blade. Gailey doesn't refrain from making scathing, candid commentary on the forms of growing and moving on from the injustices that have so long plagued women, and instead spins her work into the enthralling words of fairy tales, superhero stories, and even anime/manga and video game arcs. And while Gailey's diction is layered and precise, the caustic undertones are utterly necessary - because in order to rise above the bleak and humdrum reality of one's situation, sometimes one truly must become the villainess.
Bold, unyielding, empowering. True feminism at its finest.
with bat wings, dragon scales, luminous green skin,
as if you can't appreciate ordinary woman anymore,
as if you fear what lies beneath?"
A collection of poetry regarding obscure folktales and mythology and contemporary fads, likened to the newly-polished edge of a blade. Gailey doesn't refrain from making scathing, candid commentary on the forms of growing and moving on from the injustices that have so long plagued women, and instead spins her work into the enthralling words of fairy tales, superhero stories, and even anime/manga and video game arcs. And while Gailey's diction is layered and precise, the caustic undertones are utterly necessary - because in order to rise above the bleak and humdrum reality of one's situation, sometimes one truly must become the villainess.
Bold, unyielding, empowering. True feminism at its finest.
poetkoala's review against another edition
4.0
Love a good persona poem and a sucker for pop culture references.
kitnotmarlowe's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
this has been on my tbr since 2017 so it's time i finally got around to it. 'okay, ophelia' was one of the first poems i found on tumblr when i was 15ish that made me think 'hmm maybe i can like poetry' so i had pretty high expectations for this collection!
gailey's greatest strength lays in her ability to approach the same story from different angles. the subjects of her poems repeat, not out of a lack of material or talent, but in a pattern. each time she revisits a subject (i.e. philomel, persephone, wonder woman) she finds something new to comment on or a new angle of looking at image she's already introduced. i would much rather read 4 fully-formed poems about the same subject than 4 half-assed poems striving for originality. gailey's second biggest strength is that 9/10 times she sticks the landing, her last 2-3 lines are consistently great across the collection.
would recommend for people who don't think they like poetry! misses out on full marks because while i don't think there's a dud in the whole collection, it never made me feel as though the top of my head were taken off, to quote emily dickinson.
gailey's greatest strength lays in her ability to approach the same story from different angles. the subjects of her poems repeat, not out of a lack of material or talent, but in a pattern. each time she revisits a subject (i.e. philomel, persephone, wonder woman) she finds something new to comment on or a new angle of looking at image she's already introduced. i would much rather read 4 fully-formed poems about the same subject than 4 half-assed poems striving for originality. gailey's second biggest strength is that 9/10 times she sticks the landing, her last 2-3 lines are consistently great across the collection.
would recommend for people who don't think they like poetry! misses out on full marks because while i don't think there's a dud in the whole collection, it never made me feel as though the top of my head were taken off, to quote emily dickinson.
caitlclark's review against another edition
4.0
I don’t know why I gave this such a negative review the first time round, I originally gave it 2 stars and now, after re-reading it, I’m bumping that up to 4. This collection is brilliant and smart and incredibly topical, it’s feminist poetry for nerds and it’s truly wonderful. I guess my appreciation for raw storytelling like this wasn’t as refined then as it is now, and I’m sure the same thing goes for my pop culture knowledge. The couple of years it’s been since I first read Jeannine Hall Gailey’s collection have been one’s of growth. In that time I’ve clearly grown to learn just how fucked up we treat the women in our films, our myths, our comic books. And though we have made so much progress recently, we still have a long way to go and we have poetry collections like ‘Becoming the Villainess’ to fuel our anger until then. I adored this collection.
greeniezona's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, it has been a long time since I've enjoyed a book of poetry so much! But I knew I would love it, after enjoying her reading at the Bookslut series so much. These poems play with the idea of femininity, using legends, fairy tales, tales of goddesses, and modern tv and comic super-hero(ine)s, somehow putting Buffy and Manga characters on the same level as Persophene, in using them as tools to crack open and shine some light into our ideas of what women are. If I had the book in hand at the moment, I would be more specific. But I'll be clear that I would recommend this book without hesitation. Particularly to fans of Whedon and Gaiman.
birdbeakbeast's review against another edition
4.0
My expectations were set high. And in the first two parts (of five in total), those expectations were not entirely met with. But boy oh boy, the Persephone references werea hit, as well as the metafictional commentary on black/white comic book stories (or their stereotypical characters).
A definite recommendation for people interested in poetry and/or popular culture.
A definite recommendation for people interested in poetry and/or popular culture.