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kajalhalwa's review
5.0
This was a hard book to not devour, which is incredible given the unsettling content.
And unsettle it does: Mckibbens transforms many events, emotions and images into something monstrous and dark and hungry. These images punch and unravel you and you walk away wiser and less afraid.
I do wish her other titles like Mammoth and Pink Door weren't so hard to acquire. Her work is heavy and challeging and always a gift.
And unsettle it does: Mckibbens transforms many events, emotions and images into something monstrous and dark and hungry. These images punch and unravel you and you walk away wiser and less afraid.
I do wish her other titles like Mammoth and Pink Door weren't so hard to acquire. Her work is heavy and challeging and always a gift.
tlashay22's review
5.0
I became a fan of Rachel's when I saw her on Def Poetry Jam. While reading this, I imagined hearing her recite her poems. Every poem in this book is raw and inspiring.
lukenotjohn's review
3.0
Before I say anything about this, I'd like to point you in the direction of this incredible review because it's written by someone who's way less of a novice to poetry than me and genuinely helped me to appreciate the collection more than I originally did. With that said, at least for me, it was the kind of poetry collection that needed a little outside support to really grasp and value, which I think says something.
McKibbens casts her gaze unflinchingly (and relentlessly) at the darkest corners of the human condition. These are gory, lewd, violent, and brutal, exploring topics of death, incest, assault, deferred dreams, and, most consistently, infidelity and love gone awry. There's no denying that she is a talented, powerful poet. Many, many of these poems pack a punch, but I was often left confused about what the purpose was, and even confident a piece lacked one. Some of these felt like outright dadaism, and while the aforementioned review helped me to see the value in the destabilizing effect that has and the ways it made the more straightforward pieces that much more cutting, I think I would have just preferred more poems with a clear punchline rather than just endeavoring towards a big impact blow.
Unsurprisingly, the more straightforward poems were my favorites here, with "The Widower" being the clear stand-out for me, as well as "They Year of Dead Geese," "The Super," "And Even Smaller Nails," "Love Songs of the Unfaithful," "Chapter Seven," and "Your Best Behavior" (the final three working as a sort of triptych detailing the ways women are both caged and abandoned by their relationships). With that said, I did really love some of the more abstract ones as well, especially "Selachimorpha," but also the titular poem, "Head Above Water," "Pushing Daisies," and "Poem for Three Dead Girls of Last Summer." As a lover of magical realism, these felt right up my ally in a way that balanced the two ends of the genre, indulging in the wonder and weirdness of "magical" while still staying tethered enough to "realism" to tell a story by the end. As a whole, I'm glad to have read it but certainly underwhelmed, although I still have hope for [b:blud|34381318|blud|Rachel McKibbens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488470868s/34381318.jpg|55469694].
McKibbens casts her gaze unflinchingly (and relentlessly) at the darkest corners of the human condition. These are gory, lewd, violent, and brutal, exploring topics of death, incest, assault, deferred dreams, and, most consistently, infidelity and love gone awry. There's no denying that she is a talented, powerful poet. Many, many of these poems pack a punch, but I was often left confused about what the purpose was, and even confident a piece lacked one. Some of these felt like outright dadaism, and while the aforementioned review helped me to see the value in the destabilizing effect that has and the ways it made the more straightforward pieces that much more cutting, I think I would have just preferred more poems with a clear punchline rather than just endeavoring towards a big impact blow.
Unsurprisingly, the more straightforward poems were my favorites here, with "The Widower" being the clear stand-out for me, as well as "They Year of Dead Geese," "The Super," "And Even Smaller Nails," "Love Songs of the Unfaithful," "Chapter Seven," and "Your Best Behavior" (the final three working as a sort of triptych detailing the ways women are both caged and abandoned by their relationships). With that said, I did really love some of the more abstract ones as well, especially "Selachimorpha," but also the titular poem, "Head Above Water," "Pushing Daisies," and "Poem for Three Dead Girls of Last Summer." As a lover of magical realism, these felt right up my ally in a way that balanced the two ends of the genre, indulging in the wonder and weirdness of "magical" while still staying tethered enough to "realism" to tell a story by the end. As a whole, I'm glad to have read it but certainly underwhelmed, although I still have hope for [b:blud|34381318|blud|Rachel McKibbens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488470868s/34381318.jpg|55469694].
amps210's review
5.0
I’ve never felt so exposed and beaten while reading a book of poems. What a success at honesty and pain.
Should we be successful at pain? Worth reading with a guarded heart.
Should we be successful at pain? Worth reading with a guarded heart.
eli_h's review
5.0
Beautiful and haunting. McKibbens is a master in crafting images and making me care.
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