An Otherwise Healthy Woman

This collection was certainly one to make me form a lump in my throat. It almost felt like I was taking a tour through a hospital with every poem. While the structure didn't feel a whole lot like the poetry I am used to and I didn't connect as much as I thought I would, I appreciated the overall flow and message.

I think this collection would be super valuable for someone who works in healthcare or the medical field or is personally struggling with health problems or cares for someone who does. A lot of the poems I wasn't able to personally connect to but they were all beautifully written. Even though I don't feel that this was written for me I still find it to be an extremely valuable collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully heartbreaking and almost excruciatingly detailed. Each poem felt so personal it was hard to read at times. Especially “Home Assessment” as I related to a lot of the themes surrounding it and so when that one came up it felt so real.

There’s a lot of shifting perspective when it comes to grief. Whether it be heartbreaking because it’s your family or more medical as a doctor, Haddad explores all the aspects.

“The Promises We Make as Women” will stay in my head forever.

This was so sad. So heartbreaking but written so beautifully. I believe these poems will help women feel less lonely when going through something so devastating. Although very sad, it's very real, raw and emotional. It's so honest and brave.

caretaker, nurse, patient. daughter, wife, medical professional, patient.
this poem book explores the different roles that the author takes in a hospital throughout her life, none of them easy.
a short, yet profound read. My favorite poems included the one the book was named for and “ The Commercial Version of Metastatic Breast Cancer”

thank you netgalley

my only real complaint is that i wish the poems were longer and that there were more. the content was beautiful. i feel lucky to have been able to read the authors experience and roles throughout a hospital. but... the shortness of the poems makes it difficult for them to have had a lasting impact on me.

Having been in the position of both family member and patient in a hospital setting, many of these poems resonated with me. This didn't feel like poetry to me, it felt more like a collection of lyrical snapshots (idk how else to explain it) but it was an absolutely beautiful collection.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in return for an honest review.

This book was so many things, but evocative is the strongest word that comes to mind. A book that made me laugh, cry and cringe all within its brevity. I would definitely recommend this to any person searching for new poetry.

An Otherwise Healthy Woman is a poignant and beautiful collection of poetry. Amy Haddad has an interesting perspective as both a nurse and a long-term patient, and this is especially pertinent because some of the themes of this collection are: the particular vulnerability that comes with declining health, the surreal experience and stilted performance that is being a caretaker for a loved one, all the various forms of grief and loss that one can experience when it comes to mortality and declining health (whether it’s one’s own or those of a friend/family member), how bearing witness and being present can sometimes be the more significant portion of a healthcare worker’s job, and the toll of nursing. The collection is split into three sections: In the Clutch of a Rubber Band, What We Did on the Floor, and Cut along the Lines. As other reviewers have stated, the tone of the collection varies drastically from section to section. The sections themselves allow the collection to flow easily, and the titles of each section are so (insert chef's kiss).

Poetry is a tricky thing, because even when a poet does super cool things with form, and meter, and imagery, it always comes down to personal resonance (at least it does for me). An Otherwise Healthy Woman resonates so deeply with me. There are so many lines I love, lines I wish I’d written:

From “From the Motel Window:”
Brake lights bleed on the gray snow / as cars and buses move in and out / of the teeming parking lot. Healthy and young, / students and coaches trudge to the stadium entrance, / a swim meet, the sign says. Their words hang / in misty clouds over their heads.”
(!!!)

From “My Role as the Wife:”
The director loves spontaneity. Just go with it, he whispers from the wings. / My blocking is uninspired. Mostly, I stand by the bed where my / husband lies. // When the call light is on, I cross left down-stage to the door, looking for help. / waiting for a nurse to pick up the cue. My final scene is full of clichés,”

This poem, is perhaps one of my absolute favorites from the collection. I love that it explores the perspective of a wife of a dying patient as though she is a character in a play. The way that the wife as a character is also critiquing the play itself. I don’t know … I just think it’s such a cool poem!

Haddad is so masterful with the imagery in this collection. My understanding of imagery has been that it extends beyond the visual, and ideally evokes all of the senses. Haddad conjures strange and familiar scents, sensations, sounds. And she does all of that, while being attentive to language and rhythm. For example:

From, “Cafeteria—2013:”
”Friday night at the hospital, / way past dinner time. / The Subway counter is dark / behind its metal cage. Vending / machines, always open, hawk junk / food and sodas. What’s left in / the food line is scummy water, / empty steam tables. Lemon / custard drips from the frozen yogurt machine. The despair / of burnt coffee lingers. / A few shocked souls / in mismatched clothes / stare at turkey breast, corn and / cold fries. …”
This excerpt is giving enjambment, and internal rhyme, and the scent of burnt coffee, and the overwhelming feeling of disgust and exhaustion.
(!!!)

Amy Haddad’s work makes me want to write and then read more a whole lot more of her work. She seems like the sort of writer who is both a poet’s poet and a poet of the people. Despite the bleak subject matter (and how frightened and saddened I was reading most of it), by the final poem I felt awestruck by her craft. An Otherwise Healthy Woman is so worth the read.

Random List of Favorite Poems the Collection:
•Cafeteria--2013
•The Commercial Version of Metastatic Breast Cancer
•New to the Joint
•My Role as the Wife
•An Otherwise Healthy Woman
•Ode to a Freckle above My Left Breast

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Nebraska Press for providing me with an ARC and an opportunity to read this collection in exchange for an honest review!

This was a very beautiful poetry collection. It talks about some really difficult topics, and I think it was handled well. I’d definitely recommend this.