I truly wanted to like the anthology much more than I ended up liking it. Individually, each element worked fine. The collection of poems was great, a lot of beautiful pieces included and from a range of voices and styles. The art was also really beautiful taken on its own. But the part where the anthology should have shined - their point of connection - was weak. The art was often too literal, illustrating the poems word by word in a way that made the meaning of the words read hollow and trite, and the similar style of illustration meant that each poem bled awkwardly into the next.
Still, applaud the effort as this can't have been an easy task.

I really wanted to enjoy this anthology but I don’t think it was my thing. I loved the artwork a lot and thought it really added to the poetry, but I could barely understand the poems unless I took some time to analyze the meanings etc. I appreciate that there is a reader’s question guide at the end of the book to spark some discussion about the poems, so I think it would be a great book for a book club or a school assigned reading. I understood the gist of most of the poems but there were some where I was still totally confused. I’m really glad the artwork was there because it really helped me understand the poems better. This is definitely not a light read so be prepared to think and analyze while reading this. If you take the time to read and understand it, I think it can be a very beautiful anthology about gender identity and love and being a woman.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what happened but I can't open this comic anywhere :( I'm quite sad, I am certain that this would be a fav if I got the chance to read it.

Publisher please fix this!

I’m unable to access this book to read it because the download won’t work on my phone or laptop. If this issue could be fixed, I would love to be able to try and download it again because this anthology sounds really good and important.

Unfortunately I can't read this book as it is ACSM format and it's not readable on both my phone or computer.

I would've loved to read this as it's something that I would enjoy and the cover is beautiful.

I'm giving it 3 stars as I do love the cover and I think it's important, brave and inspirational for all these wonderful people to come together to share their stories.

I will review it again when it's released!

To preface this review, I want to say that I am not a poetry person. There are a few poems that I love, that really speak to me, but 90% of the poetry I've read just goes over my head, or just seems like words for the sake of words, without any meaning holding them together.

That being said, the poetry in this book was hit or miss for me. Some of it was good, but some of it was a little too abstract for my taste; pretty words put together in a way that I'm sure was significant for the author, but meant nothing to me.

However, I think the idea to pair the poetry with comic-style art was brilliant. The art was beautiful, and it really helped frame the poetry in a way that helped me, a non-poetry person, understand and experience the poetry in a much clearer way. The art and poetry work well together, and I really enjoyed getting to see the collaborative work of multiple artists, and the range of experiences and perspectives represented from women of different backgrounds, cultures, and identities.

It was also very cool that the book included discussion questions for each piece, which is a great way to enable this to be used in an educational or book group setting. I also enjoyed seeing the thumbnails and process pieces from the artists.

All this to say, despite not being a huge poetry lover, I really enjoyed this, and I'm sure that people who are into poetry would enjoy it even more!

I absolutely loved the idea behind this. I love poetry, and combining this with artwork was an incredible concept.
The art itself was absolutely stunning, and I can't even put into words how much I love the cover. Each artist did a beautiful job of capturing the emotion in each narrative.
I also really admired and enjoyed the diverse range of voices, championing intersectionality and voices we don't often get to hear due to the elitist ideals surrounding poetry.
Ironically, though, this is where I was let down. I don't doubt that if you sat and intensely analysed each poem, they would be incredible, but as someone who reads poetry for enjoyment, the majority of it went straight over my head.
This being said, poetry is all about personal preference. If complex poetry is your thing, this collection is perfect! For me, though, it was a little too much.
I'd love to see a very similar collection with some more accessible pieces in the future!

i cant read this book as the acsm format is not readable in my laptop or mobile and its also not showing in the netgalley shelf app

please look into this issue

and if you can, send me the book in pdf version.

or contact me through my email id- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com

A beautiful collection of illustrated poetry. I loved the vast array of artistry styles presented, as well as the various voices portrayed in the poetry.

3.5

Visually this is one of the better poem collections I’ve read, I think I prefer seeing different people’s poems as opposed to just one person. This cover is breathtaking and is just a preview to some of the amazing art in this book. It’s such a good art medium to mix drawings with lines of poetry. You really get a feel for the poem as opposed to just reading the lines and not thinking much and leaving it. All of these artists capture each poem perfectly and was my favorite part of the book. I will say some trigger warnings for graphic imagery for a couple of the poems.

The poems themselves really ranges on different topics from the mundane to heartbreaking moments. I’ve only recently forgotten a feel for poetry and I’m glad this is one of the first books I’ve gotten to see the range of different types of poetry. From the words used and format of the poem itself. It’s just beautiful all around and it’s good to know the cover matches the inside.

I’ll say standouts for me were: Gender Studies, Tapestry, To the Cherry Blossoms on 16th and Wharton, Bassam and University Toxic (which was just an excerpt apparently and now I need to find the whole thing and read every line).

I think this is a perfect book for poetry lovers and for people wanting to get into it for the first time.

The hearts are in the right place for this collection of poetry/illustration mashups, but the quality is lacking. It's a hard thing, combining poetry and graphic work, it can be a bit like playing two different pieces of music at the same time.

Pretty much the thing you shouldn't do, is literally illustrating what the poem describes, and most of the entries in this collection do exactly that. Only a few go for some form of contrast, which creates a thrilling tension.

I'm not sure what to think of the decision to print the poem as text after each illustrated version - on one hand, I appreciate seeing the poem on its own (sometimes doing their own visual things in typography), on the other hand, it seems to indicate a lack of confidence.

I was impressed by a lot of the poetry, there's some really beautiful work here. I feel the graphic parts are a bit too cliched, and mostly don't really add a lot.

I wanted to love this sooooooo badly. As individual bits I totally did. I loved the artwork. I loved the feminism and empowerment. I loved many of the poems. And I loved the concept. However together I was confused and because of that each section felt choppy to me. I still give it four stars for all of the individual elements.

The artwork in this book is absolutely STUNNING and so original! I really did appreciate the utilization of these elements to combine comics with poetry. Unfortunately, while I adore graphic novels, I tend to struggle to understand and connect with poems that I read. I was really hoping that this lovely combination would help, but I was pretty lost for the first ~50 pages.

However!! This is not a negative reflection of the book, just on me needing to keep reading poetry! The study guide at the end was very helpful, allowing me to go back and try to reflect on the poems and gain a better understanding. At times, the broken-up poems on each page made them even more difficult for me to understand, so thank you for the full poems at the end of each section! I appreciated the chance to read the poems in another way.

Those who love poetry (and even those who don't!) and graphic novels should certainly read this unique anthology. I'm certainly very grateful for the opportunity to do so.

I admit I really struggle with poetry. I often don't catch the *deeper meaning* behind the words, and it mostly goes over my head. Unfortunately, this poetry collection is an example of that. That's not to say that the book is bad -- because it's not. It just wasn't for me. I think that this collection of poetry would be perfect for those who do comprehend the symbolic words of poetry.

I will say that the art in the book were absolutely GORGEOUS. The illustrators did an amazing job.

3.5 stars! I’ve never read a combination of poetry and graphic novel, and as someone who loves graphic novels and tries to read more poetry (but isn’t always good at it), I found the mixture really interesting and helpful to me understanding the message of the poems. They definitely were an eclectic mix of stories, some very dark and others hopeful or light, all of them beautifully illustrated. Some I think still went a tad over my head, and I really enjoyed the inclusion of discussion questions at the end - I didn’t have the answers but it helped me to think differently about some of the poems, as I focused on them.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Embodied is a gorgeous collection of illustrated poetry. This is my first experience with a book that takes poetry and brings it to life on its pages in the form of art. I'm a bit difficult when it comes to poetry, but I was captivated by the gorgeous art and the diversity of the voices behind each piece. The collection shows people from different genders, sexualities, and races and celebrates their beauty and individuality. A lot of the book felt joyful to me in the way it allowed the authors and artists to express these stories. Even the more difficult, triggering topics were given their weight.

I also can't stress how stunning the art is. The entire collection is beautifully written and illustrated!

I really enjoyed reading this anthology, and this marriage of art and poetry is a medium I'd love to come back to in the future.

I'm giving this book three stars because the download will not work for me. I'm sure that I would have loved it if I was able to read it.

So the download link for this won’t work for me but I see that has happened for a few other users. I’m going to give this book a neutral 3 stars as I cannot form an opinion on it.

The concept of this anthology is brilliant, and it's definitely a big part of why I chose to give this a try. Poetry is so often viewed as an inaccessible art form, something only a select intellectual few can enjoy. Comics, on the other hand, have a mass appeal that engages readers across genres and interests. In this collection, we get a beautiful blend of feminist poems and illustrations that work together to create a very quick and enjoyable reading experience.

Each poem is displayed on a corresponding comic/artwork, which is followed by a plain text page where readers can read the poem by itself. This was a very helpful addition because sometimes it was hard to follow the lyrical line of the poem through the different pages and graphics. I struggled to decide what to pay attention to because both the art and the poetry called out to me, and so my attention was being pulled in many ways as I read through it.

The collection is transgressive, brave, and intersectional, featuring many different identities that are examples of both unique and community experiences. A very valuable and necessary read.

Some of my favourite poems:
"Good Bones" by Maggie Smith (this one is probably my favourite, so so good)
"Red Woman" by Kenzie Allen
"Gender Studies" by Caroline Hagwood
"Units & Increments" (excerpt) by Shira Dentz
"Capitalism Ruins Everything, Even Witchcraft" by Kendra DeColo

I usually don’t read poetry books, but this concept of a poetry anthology in graphic novel form, piqued my interest.

I loved the different kinds of illustrations and the poetic literature that went with them. Some of them were simply brilliant.

A well illustrated and well thought out poetic rendition. It is definitely a unique and refreshing idea!