Very lovely group of poems. Also, I loved the translation from French to English. The imagery was beautiful throughout.

When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me by Ananda Devi and translated by Kazim Ali is a collection of poems originally written in French. As someone who is learning French, it was interesting to have the juxtaposition of the original French work next to the translation. Along with this, the inclusion of the short note on translation and an interview between the translator and the author at the end of the book enhanced the experience of reading the works of poetry.
The only problem that was a hindrance while reading was because of the digital format. The formatting was off. On some instances, a paragraph of French prose got mixed in with the English translation.
Additionally, it would be helpful to have a few trigger warnings, or a mention of the themes addressed in the poem in the synopsis.

When The Night Agrees To Speak To Me is a striking and profound collection that delves into the heart of human experience with a raw and unflinching gaze. Ananda Devi’s poetic voice is powerful and evocative, masterfully capturing the complexities of identity, exile, and longing. Her words flow like a haunting melody, resonating deeply as they explore themes of love, loss, and the ever-present shadows of night.

Kazim Ali's translation preserves the intensity and lyrical beauty of Devi’s original work, making the poems accessible to a wider audience without losing their emotional depth or cultural richness. Each poem is a meditation on the human condition, often exploring the darker facets of existence with a sensitivity that is both unsettling and deeply moving.

Devi’s ability to blend the personal with the universal gives this collection a timeless quality, where the night becomes a metaphor for the unspoken and the unseen, a space where truths emerge in whispers. The imagery is vivid, often stark, yet there is a subtle tenderness woven throughout that invites readers to sit with their discomfort, to find beauty in the darkness.

When The Night Agrees To Speak To Me is a remarkable work of poetry, offering a window into the soul of one of the most compelling voices in contemporary literature. It is a must-read for those who seek poetry that challenges, provokes, and ultimately transforms.

Thank you, Harper Collins India, for the copy.

I actually love the entirety of this poetry collection. I am someone who knows and sees the void of emotions in women around me resulting from the trauma of everyday experiences.

This poetry collection describes exactly this and this collection needs to be read more. I feel this collection is very UNDERRATED!

For fans of Rupi Kaur and K.R. Meera, this is your perfect next read.

The translation is the best!

This was absolutely gorgeous. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to experience this book for free. I will definitely be acquiring my own physical copy because I can’t see myself not thinking about a few of these pieces for a long time. Sincerely and genuinely, I loved reading this and I highly recommend it.

*This review is also posted on Goodreads

Poignant poems that require rereading and where meaning can be found again and again as the poems reveal more each time they are read. I love poetry that pulls from me even as it leaves it's mark behind and that is what Devi does here.

My first encounter with Ananda Devi’s work, and it was truly remarkable. Devi's poetry focuses on the colonial past of her homeland, Mauritius, evoking a wide range of emotions that mirror the surrounding waters of Mauritius.

This was an interesting collection of translated poems; I loved some and disliked some. The themes were appealing; and while not all of the poems flowed easily and somewhat felt rigid, others were simply great.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy/early read opportunity!

A collection of poems with their translations, notes by the author and an interview with the author.
The themes of being a woman, vulnerability, politics, and rage appealed to me.
As for the writing style of the poems, I enjoyed some a bit more than others.
The length was ideal, though I am eager to read more by Devi on the same topics in other books.

2.5⭐ Thank you NetGalley for this arc. I enjoyed the smaller poems, but the longer ones felt too wordy, and they were a bit of a bother to read.

I didn’t enjoy the poetry in this collection. The pieces felt rigid and didn’t seem to have an easy flow to them. I understand that with translations, things get tricky to get every word over with the same meaning and feel, but if you read the two side by side, surely you’d notice the flow isn’t the same. I was looking forward to reading this collection but I couldn’t get myself to even like it.

it’s been a while since this was on my shelf and i finally got to read it. thank you so much for giving me this arc!

Gorgeous poetry! I've been trying to branch out with more poetry from other countries and this is brilliant. I have limited knowledge of French so I couldn't comment on the translation.

I would love to thank HarperCollins Publishers India, Ananda Devi and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I read this one last year in November and I appreciated that at the end we get to see a conversation with Kazim Ali, who translated this book in english for more people to read it. This collection had a big impact on him and he wanted the world to know about it.

The poems were strong and powerful, but something felt like missing for me. However, I recommend this one to readers that enjoy raw and honest poetry.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for providing me with an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review!


4/5 Stars


I loved how we got the original poem next to the translated one, I really do, but some of the longer poems and texts have therefore some rather questionable formating choices. Not the books fault, but figured you might want to be aware of that.

Besides that, the book is really great. A lot of metaphors and symbolism and beautiful language to talk about sometimes not so beautiful things. There’s also a very long afterword that one shouldn't miss out on.

Good poems but they did not follow any theme that I could discern. The ebook was hard to follow in some places. I love that the French and English versions were included, but the longer poems switched back and forth from English to French mid-line/mid-paragraph, which really impacted the readability and flow.

This is a book of gorgeous poetry addressing politics and colonialism and misogyny using revelatory language. The translation is solid, and I appreciated the side-by-side format. Devi is an author new to me, but I will be reading more of her work--these texts spoke to me deeply and allowed my outsider status to understand--if only a tiny bit--Devi's experiences.

::| Frémis ta chair à la recherche d’un nom
Fouille dans tes interstices
La tempête douce à tes yeux
A un vieux goût de refrain oublié.

Thrill your flesh searching for a name
Frisk all your crevices
The storm, sweet to your eyes,
Has lingering notes of some forgotten tune. |::

The poetry in this book was amazing; it spoke to a higher level than my expert level could ever rise too. There was a fascinating interview with Amanda Devi by Kaxin Ali and it really made it seem personal, like she was speaking to the reader and giving the reader a intense look at the poetry master and how her words are created and in turn affect her.

Her words took on a different meaning for me which fascinated me because not everyone will react the same. We are all individually made with thoughts and our own feelings and experiences to work from. But I'm so glad I got to read this.

Poetry is not something I'm comfortable with. I feel it's personal to the writer and so I stay far away from it as I usually can.

Thank you to Amanda Devi, Kazim Ali, HarperCollins publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this. ❤️

this book was tough in both content and style. i liked that the original poems were printed right beside the translated english versions. kazim ali's translations offer clean, plain language, but ananda devi's poems are anything but surface level. there's a lot of subtlety to be had — so much so that it could be easy for readers to miss if they're not already acquainted with difficult poetry.

this collection skews more lyrical than imagistic, and the associative leaps required from one line to the next can be tough to connect together since there's not a lot of context to work with. overall, i did like many of these blurry sketches of pain, despair, and vulnerability—i just wanted more to work with so i could see the picture more clearly.

many thanks to the publishers for giving me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

May 2, 2024
I want to thank NetGalley for the advanced Arc of this poetry book.

Review

I have always appreciated and liked poetry and this collection was a nice read, giving insight as well as being simplistically and raw in places but I appreciated that the French versions were still there in this translated book.

Was an interesting read