Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology by Tyler Chin-Tanner

Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology Reviews

• 
  Naima

  i received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  overall, i'd say this anthology is tepid - it's neither cohesively bad or cohesively good, but i think that there are some wider formatting issues that really drag the whole thing down. stand-out poems like 'good bones', 'a love letter to the decades i have kissed', 'half girl then elegy', 'birth', and 'to the cherry blossoms on 16th and wharton' are sometimes muddled or even lose some of the meaning with the formatting, and the visuals make it difficult to read. 'good bones' i think is one of the most disjoined, as the visuals just show a woman moving out and a couple moving in, where the poem reads more about trying to rear children optimistically to show the good in the world, though the world 'is at least half-terrible'.
  
  in terms of the best merging of visuals and poetry, 'a love letter to the decades i have kissed or notes on turning 50' and 'birth' are amongst the best in the anthology, and 'drown' is also very good. i think that 'birth' is probably the only poem in the anthology to have 100% conveyed the structured of the poem accurately through the art, as the poem itself is a concrete poem in the shape of a wishbone 'V', and the associated comic maintains that shape and parallels it in many of its pages.
• 
  Chrissy

  This collection of poems thats brought to life with beautiful illustrations as a comic blows my mind. There were a couple in this collection that gave me so many feels. It's a celebration of intersectional feminism.
  
  I love poetry! But I am new to graphic novels. However this was a page turner for me. I felt the connection between words and images was wonderful. It brought the words to life. I hope that they do more graphic novels like this. It was a joy to experience.
  
  In Short:
  Did I like it? Yeah I really did.
  Would I recommend it? Of course.
  Would I read more by the author? There are def a few names in this collection i'll be keeping an eye on ( not to sound like a creeper ha ha )
• 
  bookish

  I'll admit, poetry is kind of over my head. I spent more time looking at the gorgeous pictures (honestly it was that stunning cover art that made me pick this up initially). My favorite poem was Good Bones by Maggie Smith. The idea that we can make this world a better place, for ourselves, for future generations, even if everything's kind of a sh*t hole right now, really resonated with me. I think it's worth picking up to at least flip through the artwork. And maybe you'll also find that one poem that really speaks to you!
• 
  Jennie Morton

  Pluses - I'm glad this type of pairing exists. It's a really interesting concept to combine poetry and graphic novels together. The comics show a huge range of style, which is also great.
  
  Negatives - Many of the combinations didn't feel cohesive. It makes me wonder if the illustrator and poet even had conversations with each other. There's a disconnect I can't quite finger. Also, the characters on the cover have absolutely no resemblance to the content within. Whatever their stories are, they don't appear in this collection.
• 
  Lilly Pittman

  I loved the diverse and inclusive authorship and collaboration in this book. It should be praised highly. Also notable are the images of the comics. Phenomenal. However, I personally struggled to connect the meanings of the poems to the images, and indeed the meaning of the poems to my own life experiences. Maybe I just need to live more. At any rate, these two elements that lacked connection are for me why this anthology is a 3-star, rather than a 5-star.
• 
  Shé M

  Poetry + comics, I love, love an interdisciplinary project.
  I admit I'm not much a student of poetry. There's a lot that I just don't get and that's okay with me. I still enjoy the experience. And this one was so fulfilling.
  Extra exciting - at the end of the book there's two thought provoking questions to go along with each poem! I only found these at the end, but I gladly look forward to re-reading and using these questions!
• 
  Taylor Siedel

  Some of the poems and graphics were hard to follow. I did much better when I realized that I could (and should) read the poems first and then go back to read it with the graphics.
  
  I love this idea, which is why I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads, but personally it's probably more like a 3.5. I would love to see more books like this one.
• 
  Sinistmer

  Visually very striking and enjoyed the poems. Poetry is still a confusing form for me though.
• 
  Dana Williams

  The artwork is lovely and each poem spoke to me through the art. The poetry was hit and miss, which is expected in an anthology for me.
• 
  Julie Holland

  This was honestly so cool. I was browsing the internet trying to find a piece of feminist media for my Women in World Thought literature essay, and I happened to find Embodied at my local library. At first, it was the cover that caught my attention, then the fact that it said feminist. I was already sold. But to find out that it is the first ever poetry anthology to be done in a comic format, not to mention a feminist one, I was amazed! I loved this!
  
  I could launch into my essay, and how I discussed the intersectionality of this poetry anthology, feminist theory, and importance of media, but I won't. Instead, I just want to tell everyone that this is a beautiful anthology. It is original, innovative, inclusive, and beautifully done. The pictures in this graphic novel were gorgeous and some of the poems really hurt my heart. Not to mention some of the proceeds of sales goes to the International Women’s Health Coalition, an an organization that, “Promotes and protects the sexual and reproductive rights and health of all women and young people, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, by helping to develop effective health and population policies, programs and funding and by seeking to influence U.S. policy on these matters,” (IWHC). So cool!
  
  Clearly, I loved this, so why is it not five stars? Well, the reason is because sometimes the poems were very hard to understand. Whether it was the poem itself that was difficult or because of the layout on the comic-like page, there were just a few that I had a hard time really understanding.
  
  But, that shouldn't stop anyone from reading this, because I will be thinking about this book for a very long time.