4-20-25 — Christina Critiques the Stoker’s Part 6 (and an International Booker Shortlist)
- Christina Pfeiffer
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Happy Sunday, friends! I hope you are ready for some emotions with your reviews because this weeks are rough. Get your Kleenex, your comfort blanket, and snuggle up, it’s going to get sad.
SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY
THE DARK BETWEEN THE TWILIGHT
By: Jamal Hodge
Release: 6/14/24
Page count: 109
KU: Yes Hoopla: No
First line: “Perhaps God has no motive, / Perhaps Man is a salve to Fate, / Perhaps, your faith came way too fucking late.” - “Perhaps…”
Favorite line(s): “Mom ran and lost half her head. / I gathered as much as I could carry of / her in my pocket. / Before they sent me on my way.” - “Tomorrow, I’ll Be Five”
“When much is taken, much is spent.” - “Parable of the Blue Man”
Thoughts: Poignant, needed, and in the reader’s face. This is a powerful collection, possibly one of the most powerful in the past few years. Every period in this collection comes with a thunder clap to scare your mind back to the page. You have no other option than to breathe in every single word.
Rating: 5/5
MEXICANS ON THE MOON: Speculative Poetry From a Possible Future
By: Pedro Iniguez
Release: 11/3/24
Page count: 93
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
First line: “Simple instructions for those in / power and on the go: / Start with drilling into the crust.” - “American As Atomic Pie”
Favorite line: “You point your phone / at my grave marker. / The camera scans the barcode / embedded on the granite slab.” - “Holograms from Beyond”
Thoughts: So damn relevant. Iniguez forces the reader to see, smell, taste, touch , and hear every word he has to write. Racism, generational trauma mixed with pride of traditions, and current politics fuse into a collection that refuses to be ignored.
Rating: 4.5/5
FOX SPIRIT ON A DISTANT CLOUD
By: Lee Murray
Release: 4/1/24
Page count: 138
KU: No Hoopla: No
First line: “in a former life, in another time / a fox girl departs from the land of jade / in a former life, in another time”
Favorite line: “You learn to frown behind your eyes and swallow your unquiet.”
Thoughts: Heavy boots. How this isn’t everywhere and being read by everyone I just can’t understand. Steeped in cultural fear, longing, and resistance but also beauty, Lee crafts line after line of brilliance. From premise to execution, every word hurts. And the razor-sharp commentary just… it’s unmatched.
Rating: 6/5
MELANCHOLIA: A Book of Dark Poetry
By: Sumiko Saulson
Release: 6/14/24
Page count: 73
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
First line: “Sometimes they rhyme / But not at the time / It was good enough for Poe, / You know?” - “Mouthsounds”
Favorite line: “And their feet beat in time / Making the sounds that amound / Billowing over their heads / For you can’t escape the protests of the dead.” - “The Child On The Lawn”
Thoughts: Saulson pens a collection of deep dives into racism, grief, loneliness, identity, and so much more. And while each poem sheds light on internal darkness, there is also this palpable beat of power in each word.
Rating: 4.5/5
IMITATION OF LIFE
By: L. Marie Wood
Release: 4/11/24
Page count: 50
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
First line: “The closet is full of her things / from baby clothes / to teenage dreams.” - “Black Dress”
Favorite line: “Names lovingly picked / lovingly spoken / lovingly mourned.” - “Four Crosses”
“To make him warm / within my soul is my desire.” - “The Silence of Morning”
Thoughts: Thoughtful and with a laced glove of delicacy, Wood intertwines love, nature, and grief into a beautiful collection.
Rating: 3.5/5
INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLIST
SMALL BOATS
By: Vincent Delecroix
Translated: Helen Stevenson
Release: 8/17/23
Page count: 110
KU: No Hoopla: No
Synopsis: A member of the French Navy Coast Guard is forced to explain her accountability in the tragic end to twenty-four lives.
First line: “I didn’t ask you to leave, I said.”
Favorite line: “… because I seemed to somehow think that some hick who sets out to sea with a leak in his pleasure boat and people fleeing poverty and war were the same thing.”
Thoughts: Haunting - that’s the only way to describe the novella. Delecroix drowns the reader over and over to ask the question - when something horrific happens such as this real life tragedy, who is truly at fault? We also must ask if she has lost her humanity and ultimately herself. Is she reliable? Honest? And then you have to ask yourself those same questions and you may not be prepared for the answers.
Rating: 6/5