Scan barcode
mjgriffinii74656's review
4.0
While I don’t always feel like I stand on solid ground while reading poetry, this volume didn’t do that much to make feel that much more sure of what poetry is to me and how I should/could make sense of it. The volume’s topic — death — is truly arresting in so many of the poems. But the one reason I am glad that I discovered this volume (and followed through with reading it after a dear friend’s recommendation) is because the interview at the end of the collection is some of the greatest commentary and critical thinking about death, language, and art that I’ve read in years. Made me want to jump back into a Postmodern Literary Theory course that I took in undergrad.
aephrodita's review
3.0
I didn't like or understand all the poems, but some of them were really good and some of those I didn't really understand had great lines that really stuck with me. The interview at the end is also very interesting – the author is really smart and thinks in an interesting way. That might've been my favorite part of the Autobiography of Death actually.
itschlve's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.0
The interview at the end is especially interesting, very good to contextualise the poems
"The dead become pillars of water as their tears melt their bones
The dead, gone forever, departed before you, pull amniotic sacs over their heads and get in line to be born again and say that they need to learn their mother tongue all over again"
"The dead become pillars of water as their tears melt their bones
The dead, gone forever, departed before you, pull amniotic sacs over their heads and get in line to be born again and say that they need to learn their mother tongue all over again"
ckiyoko's review
5.0
Visceral and unblinking in its attention to the parts of society we often look away from. The framework of the forty-nine days a soul walks the earth between death and reincarnation feels resonant, as do the cyclical ebb and flow in form, themes, and imagery.
Standout poems: Commute, Midnight Sun, A Grave, I Want to Go to the Island, A Crow Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Name, Don't
Standout poems: Commute, Midnight Sun, A Grave, I Want to Go to the Island, A Crow Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Name, Don't
maddiejpearson's review
3.0
beautifully grotesque commentary on the unjust deaths that occur in south korea, including those who passed in the sewol ferry incident and the gwangju uprisings in the 80s. i do wish that i was more well versed in the cultural significance of these two events, i believe that i would come away with a far deeper understanding of this work, but alas it was amazing nonetheless.
khakipantsofsex's review
dark
reflective
sad
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Child death
saborlitino's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
3.5
It is so hard to rate something like this, but the author and translator did an outstanding job. Reading their discussion at the end help bring the whole collection together.
My favorites were “Commute”, “I Want to Go to the Island”, “Autopsy”, and “Marine Blue Feathers”. The rest, like the author suggests, blend into an amorphous death poem that is hard to discern what happened. This is what I attribute the 3.5 rating to, just a vibe.
I will have to read this again, so my rating may change, but it is clear Kim Hyesoon is a master poet. This insight alone blew me away:
My favorites were “Commute”, “I Want to Go to the Island”, “Autopsy”, and “Marine Blue Feathers”. The rest, like the author suggests, blend into an amorphous death poem that is hard to discern what happened. This is what I attribute the 3.5 rating to, just a vibe.
I will have to read this again, so my rating may change, but it is clear Kim Hyesoon is a master poet. This insight alone blew me away:
Poetry is a place in which names are never called out. It's a place where names are erased.
as_a_tre3's review
5.0
What a way to contemplate death! I am forever renewed in the way of seeing death through reading this collection of poems with such theme. I would read it again for refreshed profound thinking in understanding the life and death within the ties to patriarchy, capitalism, and neoliberalism within our globalized context utilizing feminist lens with specified context such as in South Korea. Love it!