Pretty blown away by this & have read it 3x in the last two days. Truly a very beautifully written narrative that takes you across time, place & through a POV of understanding Antrobus‘ own self. Stories of family history & relationships tied in with the history of colonialism & racism. Antrobus‘ experience as a deaf child & adult permeates through this collection through his narrative & the use of closed captions between poems.

Enjoyed this was from the perspective of a woman navigating life after birth. The isolation, the depression, reconciling what you thought it would be like vs the reality, the pressures of society on motherhood & the pressure to preform perfect motherhood but invisibly. I found the main character condescending much of the time & obsessed with the fact she had a C-section. Maybe that was the point: falling to pressure of ideals of motherhood

This weaves together history, politics, crimes personal stories (including the author‘s) into a story that really is about America. The death of the middle class, corporate greed, political corruption, and all the people who have been left behind to rot. It also is a story of people trying to “do the best with the moment [they] got” or survive in a world that was discarded by those with wealth & power.

There is so much stigma surrounding the aging woman. This book highlights how women‘s aging bodies are commodified & how the purveyors of these treatments prey on the pressure of women to conform to unattainable standards of femininity under the false guise of women‘s liberation & power to take control of your own body.

A story about relationships, especially family & the one between a stepishfather & stepish son. It was also a story about the Chilean literary/poetry scene & finding identity in the shadows of some of the literary giants that have come from Chili & South/Central America.
Zambra has a humorous voice that is full of warmth & has a way of highlighting the seemingly mundane aspects of living & showing the often overlooked impact they have.

This collection opens up with three bangers in a row. I don‘t know how you can read the poem “Floaters” without crying.
Espada is a storyteller, historian, activist & he can have you going through a gamut of emotion in just one short pg

It‘s amazing to me how much poetry he produced in his short period of rebellion & hedonism. Even more fascinating he just stopped & ended up with a second half of life that sought the exact opposite of his youth but he still continues wandering through life.
Side note: recommend Rimbaud in Abyssinia by Alain Borer if you are interested in reading about him post poetry

This YA book really was a celebration of Black community, family, love & coming of age. It was a fun read as an adult too; took me about two chapters in for me to let go of my jaded ways 😅 and it had me laughing, swooning & teary eyed through Prince & Dani‘s self-journey and love story.

Fictional retelling of the life of Roberto Bolanoesque writer from the pov of his friend, wife and himself beyond the grave. Reconciling idealism of youth with the ultimate path your life takes and the struggle with finding a sense of contentment and happiness in the life you end up living vs the one you could have lived. Quick read (~150 pg) in the style of Bolano: oral history from different povs that come together to form a larger narrative