Sophia ThakurReseñas

Excellent book of poetry. It's been on several hikes with me this summer. Some books of poetry are meant to be read, not spoken. This is not one of them. This book should be read with aloud with all emotion.

This was a great collection. I liked some poems more than others, but it was a good read overall. I have a couple of new favorite poems and I can't wait to see what else this author writes.

I really enjoyed this debut collection of poems that explores relationships, identity and becoming an adult.

I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program and honestly hesitated to finish it because I was so deeply moved by it. Every poem told it’s own story, and the collection truly brought them all together. I think Sophia Thakur has done something amazing by sharing these poems and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy them.

A very powerful collection of poetry straight from the heart. Sophia Thakur is a performer and that comes through on the page as you hear her voice. Reading the poems aloud is the best way to experience them. Many of the poems are about new love - the heaven and the heartbreak. I am in the calm of 50 years of love but I remember the beginnings; these poems brought much back. Share this with the young adults in your life; they will see themselves.

I won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, and it arrive on 15 July 2020.

It's been a while since I've read any poetry, so Sophia Thakur's SOMEBODY GIVE THIS HEART A PEN was a nice change of pace for me. It's very clear that she's a performance poet, and that's both a good and bad thing. While it's easy to 'hear' the rhythm of many of the poems, some of them feel like an awkward fit on the page. I found her shorter poems tended to be better; the longer ones tended to ramble. Her words are strongest when they're the most concise. All in all, though, an enjoyable collection, and I'll keep an eye out for more of her work. Rating: 3.5/5.

Favourite poems in the collection:
Let Hurt
Shiny Black
Fairground Lenses
Journey of Mirrors
Sewn Together
When to Write½

This poetry collection explores love, loss, race, identity. Powerful and moving. I especially found the last poem compelling about "What to Write."

Good poems, but they sound better when the writer speaks them aloud!

Haven't read much poetry lately, but I enjoyed this volume. Great single lines, lots of raw emotion. I liked the section break pages, which told a story of their own.

This is a YA book of poetry. At monents it is raw and honest. Other times it is somewhat confusing. Though s covers topics of coming of age, it also seems to tackle race relations and other topics on the mind of the author. That's fine in her book of poetry, but the order of the vignettes does not seem thoughtful. I would suggest reordering them either chronologically or reverse chronologically. Also, some of the poems are progressive and fluid while others are choppy and sound incomplete. Also, there are several spelling and grammar errors that should never have made it to publishing. It's hard to take a writer seriously or to recommend a book to students as a teacher when the author does not take the editing process, that we preach in our classrooms, seriously. To end on a positive note, my favorite parts of the book were the section dividers. Each of them is unique, full of quotes that are relatable, well-said, and many are recognizable from my childhood.

Raw emotion oozes out of every pore of this poetry collection. This collection of poems covers it all, love, family, coming of age, identity, police brutality and more. It's evocative, painful, brilliant, and powerful. Thakur is a talented spoken word performer and this debut collection of poetry is need now more than ever. Fearmongering, Girl You Better Sing, and Heavy World especially seem needed in these turbulent times. Definitely a voice to pay attention to and I look forward to reading more of her works!

This is a fabulous collection of very heart-felt, raw, sincere poems detailing both life’s painful moments and also some of life’s joyful moments such as realizing you’re better off without your ex (Risky Nostalgia).
My favourites from this collection included Grandma, if you can hear. and Fear Mongering (very appropriate right now following the anti- black racism protests.
My all time favourite is When to write. It would be a wonderful poem with which to kick off an inaugural writer’s club meeting. This book would also be a great collection to have in your class because you could start every day by reading one of the poems and discussing. They all lend themselves to sharing ideas. Athletics would be a good one when asking mature students to recount an embarrassing moment.
Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended for teens.

I'll admit I don't read an abundance of poetry because I think a lot of serious poetry tends to be rather depressing.

The middle stretch of this book did become too downbeat for my tastes, but I liked the first stretch best, and the last one was worth hanging on for.

This lyrical collection is full of pain, yes, but it also includes striking lines of affirmation, and it speaks to possibilities for personal growth.
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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher (Candlewick Press) in exchange for an honest review.

This book of poetry was written by a performance poet and it shows!

I’ve never read a collection by a performance poet before, so it took a little getting used to at first. But once I got the hang of it, I loved it! Just reading the poems on paper doesn’t do it justice. I actually ended up watching some of her performances on YouTube, including a few of the poems from this book. She really is a talent!

I had a lot of favorites, especially from the Break section. My favorites were:

-Excerpt from a Letter to My Little Black Girl (pg 12)
-the leaders won’t (pg 23)
-Fearmongering (pg 25)
-Risky Nostalgia (pg 41)
-How We Got Here, Part 20 (pg 49)
-Whipped on You (pg 54)
-Trust Issues (pg 58)
-Slow Sky, Move On By (pg 63)
-Scary Everyone (pg 64)
-Fidgeting (pg 66)
-Let Hurt (pg 68)
-from God (pg 81)
-When to Write (pg 98)

I loved how authentic her poems felt. I could feel her emotions and experiences very vividly. I liked that some of the poems touched upon being black in the UK. In “the leaders won’t,” she name checks Black British people (Damilola, Stephen Lawrences, and Mark Duggan specifically) who were all killed in racially motivated attacks. #BlackLivesMatter everywhere. Being an American I had not heard of these deaths before so I’m so glad she said their names.

Overall, this was a phenomenal collection and I look forward to seeing what else Sophia Thakur puts out.