It gives you context about important subjects, such as racism, historical telling of colonization, what it meant when Americans gave birth to America - the sideeffects were massive.
The author used powerful, and profound wording, gave insight to a new reality - into one I couldn't be and couldn't have been part of.

Dense poetry combining emotion, historical sources (it has a references section!), and examination of what it means to be a part of a culture and a fully recognized human. This reminds me a lot of Claudia Rankine's "Citizen," which also uses found sources and calls itself a Lyric, and Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me," which also revolves around an adult's concern for a young man growing up as a minority in the US. And all three of these books deftly mix historical incidents and records of minority oppression with personal emotional fear, anger, strength, and hope. This book takes some effort, but it rewards it.

José Felipe Alvergue's Scenery is a rich investigation of language, and specifically language's relationship with the politicization and (de)humanization of black and brown bodies in the American landscape.
This was super unique and creative, while also taking on incredibly serious and painful stuff: racism, history, being "the other," and the emotions that come along with all of that.

This collection of supposed poetry was extremely confusing. It didn’t make any sense at all and quite frankly all I got out of it was something about his son being born as a still born baby. I get it that’s sad but the poetry aspect made no sense at all!

I just did not understand this poetry collection. I was not a fan of the layout and it also felt like Jose was just writing a stream of consciousness. For me, nothing seemed to go together. It was difficult to understand and a lot of references to different paintings/other works that made it even more confusing.

I just don't think this was a poetry collection for me.

I thought it was a book of poems but I was wrong.
So once I realized that this was not what I thought it was, I tried to read this book like I would a textbook, since it was non-fiction but I still didn't enjoy it and this was not because this book addressed the history of racial division and segregation.
A few excerpts from the book that I enjoyed the context in which they were addressed
"There is no neutrality in the apocalypse of emotion"
"The riot is always new form to this arrangement, and there is nonetheless an afterward"
This book addresses race, childbirth, motherhood, preference, and there are painting and pictures of hardships and unrest that people faces, or rather the memory of the author.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I read this as a paperback not as an e-copy because it just felt all over the place.
I felt like there were too many typos and the way it was written was so hard to understand.

This was super unique and creative, while also taking on incredibly serious and painful stuff: racism, history, being "the other," and the emotions that come along with all of that. Snips of poetry mixed with quotes from books, the Dred Scott decision, historical photographs, and memories from Alvergue's life make for a compelling experience.

This is a collection full of powerful words that capture reality and experience — just the writing you want in a fine literary collection.

José Felipe Alvergue's Scenery is a rich investigation of language, and specifically language's relationship with the politicization and (de)humanization of black and brown bodies in the American landscape, in some ways very reminiscent of Layli Long Soldier's stunning work Whereas. Alvergue's words and chosen images linger in one's mind longer after reading.

Great! I would like to reccomend this to people studying the Civil war. The piems were set up differently and the pictures were well presented. I gave this 4/5.

Haunting and soul-stirring, this collection is full of potent and poignant pieces, in poetry, prose and pictures.

David Admji is already known for the flawed, complex ,extreme characters he brings to life on the stage, and now he's applied the same lens to his experience of growing up a Syrian Jew in Brooklyn, across the country to dreads in L.A. then to Iowa for porn and pancakes and back again for a disorienting stint at Juilliard.

Deftly woven, this story is so hilarious and poignant, rife with depictions of his hopelessly lovable family and friends, you could almost find yourself seduced away from the deeper underlying complexities at hand. Adjmi is as merciless on himself as he is on others, taking a diamond-hard approach to scrutinizing his own search for identity, sexuality, and the sometimes misguided ways in which he chameleoned his way through life until he landed in some version of honest acceptance and personal wisdom.

Harder-hitting than David Sedaris but equally funny and anecdotally rich; less poetic than Ocean Vuong but just as artistically imagined; part memoir, part inspiration for any serious artist or anyone with a desire to deconstruct the past. Lot Six has plenty of teeth and is ultimately relentless in the pursuit of the ugly truth. Perhaps the greatest gift Adjmi leaves his reader with (aside from a maniacal desire to turn the page) is a brutal knowledge that in spite of what is distasteful about the human condition, there is beauty to be found everywhere, no matter how absurd the person or situation, but most especially within the nooks and crannies of the artist's own alienated and lonely heart.

I did not like it. Not for me. Did not get to finish. The formatting was irritating, the writing sucked. I regret downloading this book.