tbh buenos poemas, lo que si, me mareaba a veces la traducción se notaba que era bastante literal, como si el autor lo hubiera hecho él solo

Publishing date: 02.10.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and University of Chicago Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: Candy floss from the zoo
The book left me: Chuckling

Negatives:
Poems can be a little uncomfortable (intentional, not really a negative)
Too short

Positives:
Speaks volumes about some societal problems
Very funny actually

Features:
The same poems in both english and spanish, different roles portrayed as animals on display

Why did I choose this one?
Love some translated poetry, can be a big hit or a real miss

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Devourable. Finished in a single sitting

Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, A tier. This was a great collection. Made me think and chuckle, exactly what this type of poetry should do. Will be recommending this left and right. Should get more attention, a real hidden gem amongst other collections.

Favorite poems:
Guitar
Lady
The Hunger
The Tiger
Monkeys
Papaya
Police
Atomic Bomb

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Chicago Press for the ARC!

Aaron Coleman’s excellent new translation of Nicolás Guillén’s "The Great Zoo" asks readers to question the difference between conservation and incarceration.

Poetry in translation always wrestles with itself, but Coleman has a great sense of how to navigate the tension, offering straightforward interpretations that feel like a thematic extension of the conversation Guillén hosts.

Readers don’t need to know much about Cuban history to enjoy this book, but I’m sure it would enrich the reading. Guillén’s organizing image of a zoo is really effective, allowing him to explore a range of racial and anti-colonial themes. These are brief poems, which makes the reader uncomfortably aware of their own voyeuristic impulses—we see only select angles of the caged subjects, and it’s frustrating to recognize that even in this contained form, they cannot be pinned down. We must ask what something becomes when it’s mediated by iron bars. Guillén dares readers to approach these poems as entertainment before implicating them, and the result is a collection that burrows into one's mind.

A great book!! Read carefully because here.are two versions of the poems on the same page. One in English and the other in Spanish. I have not ever read these kinds of poems. These are not your everyday poems. Its quite interested but it makes you really think. Are.the poems talking about animals or something else. I loved it and would read again.

I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review