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michaelion's review
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
I don't think the title fully fits, but it's evoking the poem which is evoking a storm, and that's what's perfect. Beautiful photos. The poem parts that weren't from Henson's journals at one point started to feel like nonsense.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Child abuse, Racism, Animal death, and Death
Minor: Colonisation, Classism, Police brutality, and Misogyny
sfranklinwriting's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Evocative wordsmithing meets transcendental imagery through the coupling of old family photos and poetry to illuminate a sense of understanding in terms of how things were for the author’s family (from the early 1900s through the rest of the century). The history behind the photos is enveloped quite well with the wordage that Robin Coste Lewis has crafted here; however, with me being whiter than sushi rice in a glass o’ 2% milk, I did have to triple back a few times to make sure I fully grasped exactly what point(s) she was making. This book is great because it gave me a peek into a past that I would have never been able to understand otherwise. Just based on the cultural significance alone, I can see why this won the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry!
ngreader's review
4.0
Honestly, some of this didn't make sense to me and I didn't have the time to wrestle with it which is my fault.
Overall, however, this is a beautiful book about the diaspora and how people have had history before the written word. It's a beautiful homage to family and Black excellence and I loved the concept of it and was glad to have read it before I needed to return it. It's definitely one to come back to again and again.
Overall, however, this is a beautiful book about the diaspora and how people have had history before the written word. It's a beautiful homage to family and Black excellence and I loved the concept of it and was glad to have read it before I needed to return it. It's definitely one to come back to again and again.
marireadstoomuch's review
5.0
A really memorable use of intimate, familial archive and poetry to consider embodied histories and joy in Blackness.
egilmore's review
5.0
Erudite but brilliant. Cosmic. The center poem is especially stunning… it took me until then to “get it”.
Through pairing lines of verse with blank spaces and photographs of those known and unknown, Robin Coste Lewis balances intimacy and grandiosity. The result is both novel and profoundly moving. She explores evolution and migration at multiple frequencies — as a species, as a cultural community, as a family, as an individual. Floods, exploration, pioneers, ice floes, red trails, dark matter, stars, births… the poems here are about ruptures, both loud and quiet, from prehistory to post. This is a book that spins galaxies on the axes of Black history and Black futurism.
Through pairing lines of verse with blank spaces and photographs of those known and unknown, Robin Coste Lewis balances intimacy and grandiosity. The result is both novel and profoundly moving. She explores evolution and migration at multiple frequencies — as a species, as a cultural community, as a family, as an individual. Floods, exploration, pioneers, ice floes, red trails, dark matter, stars, births… the poems here are about ruptures, both loud and quiet, from prehistory to post. This is a book that spins galaxies on the axes of Black history and Black futurism.
trve_zach's review
What is ostensibly a family photo album with some poetry next to it becomes so, so much more in the hands of Lewis. Her words take us on a multi-generational journey of Black Americans migrating west, fleeing the racial terrorism of the South. As such it expresses the struggle and systemic oppression of Black Americans but it also shows the particular strength and resilience and joy (forcibly) born out of such a (continued) experience. Through this, we come to know, loosely, her family and their importance to Lewis and a version of them-as-placeholder for versions of all families desiring equal share in life and aspiration (though the scope goes beyond even this, to the very creation of the universe and its people).
The poetry is enough on its own to be excellent, but here it is combined with the aforementioned found-family photo album, and this is a brilliant thing. The words and photos reframe and recontextualize one another, constantly shifting as you read along, creating and adding new meaning, moving through your mind like a dream or surreal movie.
This is a beautiful collection (even the layout with its very intentional black background and white text, bearing meaning and mood) so deftly handled that I don’t really have words for how great it is. I’ve included a few photos to help, and if they do anything for you at all, you’re going to love this. I’ve read it twice now and have been floored both times (noticing more each time like how the credits/publishing information are moved to the back of the book so that it (book) can pull you in right away, eschewing anything resembling business that would separate you from this expression) and look forward to another pass through.
[review copy provided by AA Knopf]
The poetry is enough on its own to be excellent, but here it is combined with the aforementioned found-family photo album, and this is a brilliant thing. The words and photos reframe and recontextualize one another, constantly shifting as you read along, creating and adding new meaning, moving through your mind like a dream or surreal movie.
This is a beautiful collection (even the layout with its very intentional black background and white text, bearing meaning and mood) so deftly handled that I don’t really have words for how great it is. I’ve included a few photos to help, and if they do anything for you at all, you’re going to love this. I’ve read it twice now and have been floored both times (noticing more each time like how the credits/publishing information are moved to the back of the book so that it (book) can pull you in right away, eschewing anything resembling business that would separate you from this expression) and look forward to another pass through.
[review copy provided by AA Knopf]
tamtasticbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Beautifully put together and thought out. I loved the poems set across from family history via photos.