Cover Image: Women of Resistance

Women of Resistance

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Member Reviews

Loved that this book provided inspirational stories of women throughout history. Loved the visuals and diversity represented.

(5/5 stars)

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This book just made my heart and soul happy. It was well written and I loved how empowering it made me feel.

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I was really intrigued with the title and went in with a lotta expectations and my expectations were mostly met. It is a solid 4 star read, though I wouldn't wanna read them again. It is one of those books that you just pass through.

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This was such an illuminating collection of poetry to read especially right now. I appreciated the introduction and how it set the stage for the poetry that followed. It is important to have collections like this, that focus on women so that we can have examples. While I read this collection I felt so proud to be a woman and wanted to keep those feelings and ideas going. This is one that I will probably purchase a hard copy of and maybe even give as a gift. Excellent!

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Like any collection, Women of Resistance has a mix of poems, some were brilliant, all were political, some were cathartic, some I just didnt get. Let me start by acknowledging that money from the purchase of this collection goes towards Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, so it's actively benefiting women as well as celebrating them through its content. The Editor's Note also makes it clear that this collection celebrates all women,

'Above all, this resistance exalts those bodies— the bodies of women, of femmes, girls, and all gender-nonconforming people. The bodies of this collection are touched against their will, bombed, stoned, they are giving birth, they are bending and not breaking, they are crying, they are shouting, they are raging.'

On the whole I enjoyed the collection and there were some absolute gems throughout. However, Cynthia Dewa Oka's Elegy With a White Shirt stood out above all the others to me.

'...My homeland lives like a witch in my house, turning the rice yellow and filling my mouth with marbles when my mother calls. She puts up strange lights in the air of my mind; sometimes they bark like dogs and when the mask of gasoline sticks too zealously, I pause my breath to lick it. Under the white shirt, the wound is longer than any blood. Under the parade of the pure, the wind -defying veils of redemption, my bones suggest spill...'

The imagery is just fantastic in this peace. I also love the lyricism in Christopher Soto's In Support of Violence, a poem describing the 'two hundred women who killed their rapist on the courtroom floor of Nagpur in 2004':

'In this windowless room // where he poured acid & stole money // arrest us all In this windowless room [shut like the gut of an ox] arrest us all

Gored  &   gorge   are words to describe a wound
                Gorgeous // the opening
Of a blade inside his chest
            Gorgeous  // black galaxies, growing

Across his skin, we threw rocks & chili pepper
Arrest us all...'

Definitely worth a read!

Thanks to Netgalley and OR books for an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

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I weirdly enough LOVED this book. I am not used to reading this style of book, but wow what a beautiful written poetry. It was so empowering to read about different experiences of woman in all aspects: sexually, race, violence, etc. It was heartbreaking and real and I could relate so much to it it was scary.

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A fun, feminist read for all the ladies out there (and the men!) I enjoyed how politically charged this novel was, and the call to activism. Written by 50 activists, this book shouted at our society for the way things are being run within the government, and it was a call to action for the rest of us sipping coffee in the comfort of our beds while reading these eclectic poems.
I wish books like this one would be taught in schools. I wish that somehow we could mandate a reading list for society; if we could, this would be on it. Everyone, those that agree and those that are turning a blind eye, need to read poetry like this to cease ignorance and begin the conversations towards equality and equity for all. This book starts the conversation - pick up a copy, and don't let the conversation end.

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I LOVED this book. It was hard, real, intense at times...but so necessary to survive in this political climate we are living in right now. The 2016 election shook me to my core and this collection is one of the positive, empowering things that have come out of it. I feel proud to be a strong woman, now more than ever...

This anthology of fantastic women impacted me more than I thought possible. We can change the world-I truly believe that and collections like this give me the motivation to keep fighting the good fight, knowing I have a whole slew of people to get in formation with.

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I happy to have received this book . Although i did not connect with all the pieces i am sure it would be relevant to those who need it. It is the rising voices of feminist across the world, i very much enjoyed and i think future generations would connect with this

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This is a relevant book that will survive for generations to illustrate a specific time (and a place, which I often forget). However, I didn't connect with hardly any of the compositions, and there were so many they drowned each other and their messages.

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This was an interesting book. The pieces were hit-or-miss for me, and some were very abstract or went over my head. But you're into poetry and essays you want to sit on and digest, this is the one for you! And I definitely appreciated the topics and messages.

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I was too late with downloading this title but bought the book myself later. Which I am very glad I did! I absolutely loved this entire book. I'm pretty new to poetry, but there were some poems that I felt so strong about, I loved reading them so much.

The fact that the subjects are so current is even better in my opinion, it's hard to put my feelings into words but just know I loved this book.

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A fun, inspirational and feminist book. Makes a perfect gift for friends and family this Christmas as well. Love having it on my shelf now.

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As soon as I saw this book I knew I had to read it. I adored the cover. I adored the title. I adored the concept. And now, after I have finished reading it, I can safely say that I adored the content.

The nature of the poems collected here are to promote feminist ideologies and to draw attention to the racist and misogynist thinking, the cultural appropriation, and the lack of diverse representation still prevalent, in contemporary society.

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I was really interested by the cover and premise, but it didn't drew me in at all.. The flow was off, and reading became a chore.

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At times hopeful, heartbreaking and heartrending, WOMEN OF RESISTANCE is a well-written and edited poetry anthology. It bolsters women, female-identifying and gender-nonconforming people in a way that I have not seen recently and in a time where such a book is needed. I was blown away by the talent in the book and found myself rereading lines. I took my time with this one, as I recommend, because every poem was so powerful.

I'm incredibly grateful for these poets and their words and urge readers to put this in the hands of everyone they know. It's beautiful.

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Okay, I love 2018 has been all about discussions about feminism, politics and everything in between with more people being heard about their stories and their truth.

I loved that the poems in here included women from all walks of life, socio-economic backgrounds, sexuality and even male allies who understood why feminism is need for all women.

But some of these didn’t hit the mark for me, maybe t was the way the book was laid out on my kindle that it didn’t flow as well as I’d have liked it to or maybe it was that that the poems jumped around when thinking back they could have been arranged a bit better.

But overall I did enjoy this collection very much.

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This is a major case of "don't go by my rating because you might love it".

When I picked this up, I was so convinced I'm going to love it that for the first 32% of the collection, I wasn't able to form the true opinion of not actually liking it. You know, one of those times when the idea and thought behind a work is amazing and so appreciable that being honest about the actual work makes you feel bad.

The collection claims to touch the issues of feminism but it didn't do well in actually conveying the messages since most of the poems felt a little bland, too organized or absolutely not concised, and boring to be honest. That being said, I wouldn't speak strongly of this judgement of mine since a great number of readers seem to love this collection. So pick it up if it interests you!

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Beautiful and empowering. Women of Resistance makes you proud of being part of a generation that has the power to change the future and the strength to do so. Even when the world feels like it might be crumbling down reading these poems makes you feel like there might be more hope than you might think.

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Although some of these poems simply didn’t connect with me, I’m super appreciative to have read them and I am happy that books like this exist. I did love some of the poems in here, but the issue with a big compilation like this is the wide variety of poets included in this anthology mean a wide variety of styles. So I guess all readers will be able to connect with at least one poem in here! Everyone should give this one a shot!

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