'Music for the Dead and Resurrected' is a haunting, descriptive poetry collection by Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort, draws on a first-hand account of a past grandparent generation of the Soviet labor camps, redistribution of land, and massacres of World War II in Belarus. My favourite poem in this collection is 'Genesis', with 'Singer' taking second place.

She questions "does everything have to be like a poem?". To answer: no, they don't have to be. I think it would have interesting to see what this collection would have been like as creative non-fiction or maybe even a memoir instead? Despite saying that, these poems are powerful and tell the narrative of Belarus and it's turbulent history.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for granting me this free eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own, unbiased views.

I had read Factory of Tears by this poet and was interested to read a collection that she wrote without a potential barrier of translation in my reading of it. While there were moments of beauty and several striking images in this collection-- particularly of music and history-- I almost wish it was a memoir instead. ("does everything have to be like a poem?") My favorite poems here tended to be the most narrative.

As another reviewer mentioned, sometimes the Western images seemed jarring, and I didn't always find the repetition effective either. That being said, the whole collection does have a haunted, melodic feel to it in the best possible way. I will continue to seek out what Valzhyna Mort writes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely set of poems deeply grounded in classical music, greek literature, and critiques of Russian nationalism and the devastation of WWII. A fascinating and wonderfully melodic read that listens closely to different types of poems- different styles and forms- and combines them into something extremely powerful.