I love Tayi Tibble’s work. These collection of poems tells about the Maoris’ ancestral roots. Reading these poems is amazing and represents so many things in her life. I want to say thank you to the publishers at
Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and also NetGalley for giving me a opportunity to read this book and do a review.

This is the first time I’ve read Tayi Tibble’s work, and it really captures me. Partially because I had to work so much harder to fully understand the metaphors and figurative language that was specific to New Zealand, and partly because so much of her trauma and spirituality and connections with her ancestry resonated with me. Section 3 was my favorite of this collection but each of the sections were impactful in their own way. Section 2 reads more like prose. I enjoyed the variety.

This collection is POWERFUL. You can feel Tibble’s rage and grief and cynicism and humor and hurt and betrayal. Tibble described the book as her “pay[ing tribute to modern Māori culture by using the humor, sexuality and friendship that encapsulates my generation" and I think that’s a perfect description.

A note: since this book is so connected to Māori culture, a lot of the words and references were unfamiliar to me, which I assume is going to be true for other readers. I appreciated that I read it on kindle so I could easily look them up as I read, but it would be really cool to have a version of this book with an appendix/explanatory notes where Tibble gets to teach us parts of Māori culture.

The style generally reads like slam poetry that’s written down. However, in two her sections, she experiments with some long form poetry that almost feels like a book chapter, but not quite. It’s not my preferred style, but it works with the emotions she’s trying to convey.

Thank you to Nethgalley and the publisher for sending this review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Coming out in the US!

Loved this collection of poems from the author’s perspective as a young woman, Māori & a lot to say about growing up in the environment she did, colonization, oppression, life & made it funny and relevant too.

“I didn’t grow up wrecking things but very often the world wrecked itself around me”
“life’s not a game of Operation. Stop playing with people.”