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A standout collection of poems! This is my first time reading Hala Alyan’s writing, but it’s easy to see her experience with her craft. There’s a fluidity to which she adopts different styles & structures to fit her words, and I never felt bored while navigating through the world within this collection. If anything, it felt difficult to narrow down the poems that stood out the most; even choosing from her choose-your-own-adventure style ones took a fair bit of time.

One of the most notable themes across the poems was the legacy, and shadow, of Palestine. This is one of several works I’ve recently read by authors of Palestinian heritage, and it seems to be a common thread throughout many of these stories: the weight of a past & land that was taken, and the enduring connection to individual stories. Alyan interweaves this amidst images of different cities and countries, parts of her present life, and her relationships (two of which can be seen across multiple poems, tying the book together into an even more cohesive work).

This collection releases next year on March 12 (thanks to Ecco for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review!). I highly recommend seeking out a copy if you’re also a fan of poetry. My personal favorites were:
-Portrait of the Ex as Eve
-The year is
-Half-Life in Exile
-Sleep Study No. 3
-Interactive Fiction :: Werewolf

This was such a beautiful poetry collection. I loved the interactive poetry throughout. My favorite poem in the collection is "When They Say Pledge Allegiance, I Say".

This was a really impressive expression of grief, family, culture, and deep sadness.
I enjoyed the poetry and the feelings it invoked. Will definitely look into other work by the author.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a really inventive and mind-bending collection that explores themes of family and grief through technology, branching logic, and choose-your-own-path style formats. It's my first Hala Alyan and definitely made me want to check out more of her work!

Absolutely loved the feelings this invoked with grief, trauma, and family. We’re taken through every layer of emotion and shown exactly what it is to feel. It at moments felt like other collections I’ve read but it still kept its own pace.

These collection of poems are about family, emotions, grief, and other things. Showing how life can be different from one country to another. Realizing that nothing can stop anyone from living their life. I want to thank the publishers at Ecco and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read these poems and review them.

Themes of:
Grief, motherhood, miscarriage, memories, past & future, ancestors and where they came from
What it’s like to feel young, to feel nothing, to feel sad, to feel everything
It’s about life that is and life that could have been.

Beautiful, dreamy & heartbreaking

Some of the formatting is funky on kindle, so I read on NetGalley app