As I hope you remember, I fell in love with Amanda Lovelace’s poetry books a couple months ago. I started with The Princess Saves Herself in This One, and immediately needed more. Luckily for me, Lovelace released To Make Monsters Out of Girls last month. I knew I needed to pick up a copy once I was off of my buying ban.
TMMOOG is the first in Lovelace’s The Things That H(a)unt duology.
This is different from her Women are Some Kind of Magic series in a couple of ways. The covers are different, the duology has illustrations (by Muniz’s Sertel), and it’s broken up into distinct sections. It also (somehow) hit me harder than the other two.
This book seems to focus on three people, Lovelace’s abuser, Lovelace herself, and her spouse. The three sections tell different pieces of a story, and it comes together to make a beautifully heartbreaking book. Sprinkled throughout are gorgeous illustrations, and the format of poetry changes even a bit more than it did in the previous books.
While the trigger warnings at the front of the book are not to be ignored, reading this was comforting and sad.
It was completely worth the stress (I had to make sure I took breaks from reading to do little things for myself here and there). The subject matter is powerful and pertinent, and I can not recommend this enough.
You must read the trigger warnings before reading this book, and you absolutely must practice self-care while you read it. I recommend that you take breaks to go for walks and do meditation after/before reading it. And I really think you should read it. It’s powerful and strong. While I don’t usually have specific purchasing suggestions, I think you should get the copy from Target, because there are bonus poems in there, and one of them hit me harder than almost anything else in the book.
If you’re a poetry fan, what would you recommend for folks who enjoy Lovelace’s work? I’m always looking for my next read!
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