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I heard this author read from this book on the radio and I was enthralled by his ability to render such horrific experiences. This book is not for the faint of heart.It is for those who want to glory in the human will to survive.This young man's ability to describe his situation and surroundings in terms that make one want to read on goes beyond normal skill and approaches the divine.
Each poem is full of vitality. The poems, all heart-rending, represent voices that desire freedom. --Dike Okoro Milwaukee, WI USA The transformation of horrific experiences and psychological trauma into something more powerful than pain. Abani is simply sizzling and brilliant in this book. This book is a testimony from an ex political prisoner and one of the finest poets of his generation.
He has combined these two facts to bring back poetry from hell -- poetry that sings. that laughs and rocks and wails.
And he plays a mean sax too. Here it is, he says, here is humanity in all its grand perversion and its unmistakable diginity and hope.
He breaks down walls and brings forth unimaginable pain only to lay it before you -- gracefilled and beating like an undeniable human heart. Let's only hope the world gives back to him now, finally, the rich fruits of kindness and love and understanding that he deserves.
Chris Abani is that rare gift to the world -- someone who was born a writer and who suffered great atrocity. that grieves.
I was lucky enough to see Abani read and he is someone who is in this closed off world who is out there sharing, must share, and he makes the world a better place by doing so.
It will change your life. When she was asked "Can you describe all this/and I said I can". Like Yeats said "a terrible beauty is born" This is a splendid example of the poetry of witness and I think it belongs in the company of Akhmatova's Requiem. It is fortunate to come upon them.The poems on London filled me with longing for that city one never tires of.Buy this book. This book is a stunning achievement. I went from poem to poem in amazement at this writers ability to capture those moments of horror he endured as a political prisoner and transform them. That is what this writer did, with words of power and grace, that will linger in anyone's head.
The Language, while simple, achieves a complex poetic form - the rendering of life into words.This book is a must read. It reminded me of what is important in life and how important it is, at whatever level, to do the right thing, no matter how difficult.The poet's tale of incaceration for his writing in Nigeria's old regimes is a humbling one. The pain and the inhumanity of other people.It also left me speechless with regard to myself. No other book in the last ten years has moved me as much.The poems are beautifully balanced pieces with a clear narrative. Abani's book left me speechless. At the horror. It is also an inspiring one.
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