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casparb's review
I think the first poetry book I read in coming back to St Andrews this academic year
brice_mo's review
3.0
I really enjoyed this, especially "A Question for Zeno." The language throughout the collection is very tactile, and I liked the off-kilter cadence that Lafarge employs.
albajl's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I wrote something on it actually heheh https://thepolyphony.org/2023/12/07/surviving-a-metaphorical-suffocation-daisy-lafarges-life-without-air/
foggy_rosamund's review
2.0
An exploration of the climate crisis, which also hints at an abusive relationship between two adults. I really like the ideas of the collection -- a look at science and industry, and how they impacts our understanding of the environment, and the overlap of the personal with our relationship to the external crisis. However, I really struggled with this. I tend to read poetry collections in chronological order, and I only began to connect with this at the third poem from the end, "A Question for Zeno". In this poem, the author becomes much more direct and emotional, and the poem vividly engages with an abusive relationship and its impact on the narrator, as well as the use of the narrative "I", and some of Zeno's philosophical ideas. It's a sophisticated, moving and thought-provoking poem, and I wished the rest of the collection had been more like it. Most of the time I found the poems so illusive I wasn't sure what they were actually about, and the imagery felt vague rather than vivid. Perhaps I am the wrong reader for this book.
fantine's review
4.0
An ecological poetry collection that I enjoyed way more than I thought I would, this collection explores the climate crisis and the social crisis concerning toxic relationships and power structures and how deeply enmeshed they are with one another.
Personal human suffering and global ecological destruction blur together as Lafarge considers the question of what it means to exist with this ever-present suffocating feeling (highly relatable in lockdown) and how human and non-human alike can live a life without air.
Each poem was as fascinating and layered as the topics it dealt with, Not always an easy read I found myself consulting a dictionary but the choice of scientific language and jargon never felt pretentious rather an often joyous exploration. A little difficult to get into but ultimately cathartic I feel will get even better upon a reread.
Personal human suffering and global ecological destruction blur together as Lafarge considers the question of what it means to exist with this ever-present suffocating feeling (highly relatable in lockdown) and how human and non-human alike can live a life without air.
Each poem was as fascinating and layered as the topics it dealt with, Not always an easy read I found myself consulting a dictionary but the choice of scientific language and jargon never felt pretentious rather an often joyous exploration. A little difficult to get into but ultimately cathartic I feel will get even better upon a reread.
seraphinaoriana's review
4.0
A really interesting collection. The poems really draw out the feeling of suffocating in toxic environments. Whether they be ecological disasters impacting our air quality or trapped in relationships the sense of airlessness might leave you breathless. Two poems I really liked were ‘How to leave a marriage’ and ‘A question for Zeno’.