This was a beautifully written collection. I think I would have liked it more had I read it in print. The kindle edition threw the formatting wildly off.

I picked this up because I thought it was going to be a smart, literary book about wrestling – and it was that, but also so much more. Complex, thoughtful, beautiful poems about race, gender, family, identity, love. One of my favourite poetry collections of the year.

I wanted to be in love with this collection!
I was so eager to read it because I am determined to read more poetry every year and unfortunately, I just didn't love it
I feel like I may read it again to see if I just wasn't in the headspace because sometimes that is the case with poetry.

There were some amazing lines in some of the poems that I definitely highlighted and made little notes on my kindle.
I think it has some parts that are relatable but others that require a lot more context.

The conceit of Tapping Out is imaginative and inventive. I loved the inclusion of definitions and images. The collection uses the conceit as a means of discussing wider topics like race, womanhood, love, culture, home, etc. The poems about being a woman of color, specifically a black woman, were the strongest of the collection. "castes" in particular was a stand out poem.

As a fan of lucha libre, I loved how Comer uses the sport to show deeper, common human themes. Within the collection, too, there are poems that discuss colorism, the role of women in society, and the assumptions people make about both. I greatly enjoyed this collection, and found that one does not need to know Spanish or lucha do to so. If you happen to have a passing familiarity with either, you'll love it.

One brief issue: digital formatting made it difficult to distinguish when poems ended, and where titles began, in some cases.

Tapping Out by Nandi Comer relies heavily on imagery and language tied to lucha libre, or Mexican freestyle wrestling, as she explores the roles of identity, changes in our identities, and the masks that we often wear when faced with violence, trauma, and other situations. The poems are like the high-flying maneuvers of the wrestlers in lucha libre and many times Comer references the colorful masks of the wrestler-narrators in the poems to explore unsettling realities of migrant and immigrant experience. There are bumps and bruises along the way, and it's hard to turn away from Comer's poems. Reality is harsh and she displays it all.

A powerful collection of narrative poems that melds the Mexican wrestling world with the realities of immigrants and minorities. It's match after match, fear around the corner at every turn, and constant exhaustion in fighting to live. To ignore these narratives, is to ignore the humanity of all of us. To ignore the injustices of the world, is to be an ostrich with its head in the sand.

This collection of poetry was at times breathtaking and only a few poems I found to be underwhelming. I felt her voice was strong even in the poems that could have used a bit more development. This collection isn't for everyone. But many of these poems spoke to me & they spoke the truth about so much.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review,

Poetry can be difficult for me to read and understand, but I adore wrestling and lucha libre, so I could not pass up an opportunity to read this. I overall enjoyed reading the poems, but I found myself getting lost at points. It is definitely a niche collection, and if you do not have much knowledge about lucha libre or know Spanish, it could be hard to get through. The poems flowed nicely, but they were long and the metaphors were hard to understand at points.

To me, poetry is even more subjective than fiction or novels. I did not connect to all of the poems, but I could see how other people may connect more. I recommend trying out this poetry collection if you are interested in race, gender, language, or lucha libre.

It was hard to push through this collection of poetry. The visuals were awesome. The poems were a little too long and confusing. If you don’t know Spanish you won’t understand or know what’s going on. I learned a couple new things though so it wasn’t all bad.

Lucha libre means "freestyle wrestling" or "free fight." It is the term used in Mexico to refer to professional wrestling. Nandi Comer explores the intersections between the ring and the poetic, between life and the world of luchadores, in a manner that is both interesting and profound. Miguel Valverde's illustrations are simple and beautiful, adding to the book.

Lucha libre invites the spectator into the mystical and the dramatic; the struggle between the rudo and the technico represents the human struggle in very simple terms. There are heroes and villains who fight for right or who represent wrong. Comer helps us to see that we are drawn to gaze upon the luchadores because of what they represent for us, what we long for in our realities.

But she contrasts that with our experiences, particularly her own, in that matters are not always so simple. Good and evil remain very present, but the lines are not drawn as sharply--yet they are felt. Injustices, hurt, and cruetly--it is everywhere. It transcends language, culture, and geography. So we mask up, we act tough, and we do what we can to avoid exposure. And the experiences we absorb then shape us into the likeness of the rudo or the technico, the heel or the face.

There is a kind of beauty in these poems. There is the beauty of truth, and the beauty of difference. Comer incorporates race in to these poems, and there is beauty in Comer's decision to describe and to name pain, discrimination, and division that human beings encounter on the basis of the color of their skin. This is a good collection, made all the more interesting by their placement in and around the world of lucha libre.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime/thriller reader therefore am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The relentless motions and blinding colors of lucha libre, the high-flying wrestling sport, are the arresting backdrop to Nandi Comer’s collection Tapping Out.



As the collection goes on, the more impressed I become. Using the slang of Lucha Libre wrestling, Comer in this collection delivers some really good poetry that encapsulates people and moments perfectly. This for me particularly shows in poems such as ‘Rudo’ a poem about the heels or bad guys of wrestling and why someone would like them, this poem certainly certainly shines here.

How the poetry changes to deliver the message of every line works so well throughout this collection as the poet emphasises how everything feels, and in moments it almost feels like you are right there watching the action through the words - Comer paints a picture throughout this collection with such ease.

An exploration of wrestling, culture, and race, this collection delivers some real moments of quality that builds into something great.