A review by elisecoz
Poor Your Soul by Mira Ptacin

5.0

I just finished this and feel like a rubber band ball of emotion. To feel so many things at once is such an odd feeling in itself, but I like it. And that would never have been possible if Mira Ptacin weren't so good at weaving so many narratives together. She has this amazing talent of being able to explain the shades of grey between black and white. No part of life is simple, and you never really know what is going to come next, something that comes through really beautifully here. On a smaller sentence level, this is just a straight up really great piece of writing. I was writing quotations in a separate notebook, and there are so many gorgeous ones. Ptacin has a way of punching you in the gut without ever feeling melodramatic. Yes, there are dramatic moments, but she earns the written tears she sheds. I cried along with her and never felt like she was forcing me to feel something. Finally, I was really impressed with how she wove this together almost as a conversation- there are tangents and she switches narratives and the timeline is definitely not chronological, but it worked. It felt natural, like a friend sat you down with a large pot of tea and shared this incredibly brave and honest story with you, and the entire time you're sipping and just feeling so lucky and honored to hear it.