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A review by classicbhaer
Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism by Cynthia Dewi Oka, Joyce Peseroff, Laura Fairgrieve, Wendy Xu, Maureen McLane, Jill McDonough, Lauren Clark, Lauren K. Alleyne, Ada Limón, Stacey Waite, Laura Theobald, Denice Frohman, Achy Obejas, Jericho Brown, Sandra Beasley, Rachel Zucker, Tyehimba Jess, Anastacia-Renee, Jade Lascelles, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Ellen Hagan, Dorothea Lasky, Judith Baumel, Kimberly Johnson, Jacqueline Jones Lamon, Mahogany L. Browne, Amanda Johnston, Hope Wabuke, Kim Addonizio, Safia Elhillo, Naomi Shihab Nye, francine j. harris, Patricia Smith, Anne Waldman, Kwame Dawes, Monika Zobel, Jenny Johnson, Rachel McKibbens, Ryka Aoki, Ruth Irupé Sanabria, Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Danielle Chapman, James Allen Hall, Elizabeth Acevedo, Christopher Soto, Karyna McGlynn, Mary Ruefle, Kaveh Akbar, Trish Salah
4.0
* I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
What I Liked
One of the main thing I like about this collection of poems is the fact that you can tell it is written by a wide array of women. You can tell they all have different life experiences and circumstances. For me, that is a sign of a well rounded collection. Due to this the poems are very different from one another, but they all share that single thread with one another. Feminism, strong women. This also led to there being so many different voices and I found myself really enjoying the scope of styles and stories that these individuals wrote.
Another thing I liked about this was the fact that this was a collection labeled as feminist and was truly feminist. It talked about equality of all. There were poems that dealt with race, violence, and of course gender issues. It was a nice seeing a collection and a book labeled as feminist saying "All. All. All!" instead of "Us. Us. Us!"
What I Didn’t Like
One thing I did not like, which is more me being unprepared than any fault of the book itself. Some of the poems were difficult, which I think they need to be to be true to themselves. But, this being unexpected made some of the reading difficult. But, as soon as I knew what some of the poems might be exploring I was fine. It was just the initial surprise. So just a warning, some of these poems explore very difficult situations.
Overall Thoughts
I would have to say I enjoyed this poetry collection. It explored the voices of an array of writings giving it a distinct feeling of authenticity. It also gives a voice to those who have gone through difficult experiences. It really makes you think outside of your own bubble and forces you to face it. If you enjoy feminist literature and poetry I would say you should pick this collection up. It was wonderful.
What I Liked
One of the main thing I like about this collection of poems is the fact that you can tell it is written by a wide array of women. You can tell they all have different life experiences and circumstances. For me, that is a sign of a well rounded collection. Due to this the poems are very different from one another, but they all share that single thread with one another. Feminism, strong women. This also led to there being so many different voices and I found myself really enjoying the scope of styles and stories that these individuals wrote.
Another thing I liked about this was the fact that this was a collection labeled as feminist and was truly feminist. It talked about equality of all. There were poems that dealt with race, violence, and of course gender issues. It was a nice seeing a collection and a book labeled as feminist saying "All. All. All!" instead of "Us. Us. Us!"
What I Didn’t Like
One thing I did not like, which is more me being unprepared than any fault of the book itself. Some of the poems were difficult, which I think they need to be to be true to themselves. But, this being unexpected made some of the reading difficult. But, as soon as I knew what some of the poems might be exploring I was fine. It was just the initial surprise. So just a warning, some of these poems explore very difficult situations.
Overall Thoughts
I would have to say I enjoyed this poetry collection. It explored the voices of an array of writings giving it a distinct feeling of authenticity. It also gives a voice to those who have gone through difficult experiences. It really makes you think outside of your own bubble and forces you to face it. If you enjoy feminist literature and poetry I would say you should pick this collection up. It was wonderful.