TW: Sexual Assault, Rape
Reviewing poetry feels too intrusive. I can write reviews of fiction all day, how did I feel about the characters? Did the plot do its job? Was I invested the entire time? Poetry seems to be a whole different ball game. It’s the author’s heart and soul on paper, especially in the case of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Shout. In light of the “#metoo” movement, Anderson carves out the deepest parts of her sexual assault, a vulnerable and dark time. These poems are about refusing to be silenced, refusing to lay low and assume the victim mentality. My copy has a blurb from Jodi Picoult, so you know my interest is piqued. Survivors have many ways of showing their grief, and poetry is a strong choice. Shouting something as closely linked to shame as a sexual assault really turns the onus back onto the survivor. Art is a way of healing. Manifest of healing. At times this was hard to read but that’s the experience of a woman, when one suffers, we all feel it.
Victoria's Literature 