Never would I have thought that a book could give me so many emotions. So. Many. Emotions. I almost love this book too much to be able to right a review. Nonetheless, I’m going to attempt to review it as best as I can. Note: this is the book for the 5th challenge of the MMD Reading Challenge which I am taking part in (a book of poetry, a play or an essay collection).
This book was sad, shocking and dark; it looks at anorexia, abuse, rape, suicide, death, grieving and many more topics that make it seem like a dismal reading choice. But then there are other topics too; love (real love, not the kind of love found in abusive relationships), moving on and self love are also heavily featured, especially towards the end of the book. Not only this, but the way in which it is written (in verse) and the raw voice in which the story is told make the story both deeply moving and incredibly inspirational.
The poetry collection, which is divided into 4 parts (The Princess, The Damsel, The Queen, You), looks at four different stages or aspects of the narrator’s life with the last (and personally, my favourite) part focusing on ‘you’ or the reader, how you can take the lessons from the book into your own life, how you can learn from the narrator’s personal experience etc.
Finally, I would just like to conclude by saying a few things:
- There are countless review on Goodreads that say this book doesn’t have real poetry in it (because it doesn’t rhyme, have set syllables etc.). Honestly, isn’t that just intentionally missing the point of the whole story? I could go on a long rant about this but I’m not going to. Hmph.
- There is so much more I could say about this book. Even thinking about it now there are so many things I could go on about (the shape of the words, how powerful the voice of the narrator is… The list goes on). Instead, I’ll stop my rant and insteadleave it to you to read it for yourself and to experience how good this book really is.
- I’m looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series (The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One) soon.
- My rating? 5 stars! 🙂 📚
i love this book fiercely. 💙💙
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I have to agree :). The 2nd book, which is on Netgalley, was also really great.
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