3 stars
| This is one of those books that is kind of difficult to rate. I saw this at the library and was instantly pulled in by the bright cover and controversial title as any sane person would be. Going into it, I figured it would have a pretty angry tone and was not surprised to see profanity. But I was not really prepared for the extent of the vulgarity in this book. I’ll start by saying I love that Finley was not afraid to share her rage. You can really feel the anger on each page. It makes the work as a whole utterly raw and real. These poems smack you in the face with the reality of the world whether you are ready for it or not. However, sometimes that rage clouded the message of the work. I won’t go so far as to say that the rage went too far or was unfounded. Finley (and every woman in the world) has every right to be angry and I think that complete disgust with current events adds strength to the work. But sometimes that unchecked angry spins a poem out of control so much so that the original point is overshadowed. Many of the poems were very well thought out in the beginning. For example, I loved the piece, “Rosie O’Donnell” in which Finley pinpoints why Trump hates Rosie O’Donnell in such a rational way that it is easily generalizable to society as a whole. The first two pages were good. Then it keeps going and going and before you know it, Finley is sputtering nonsense and listing random hairstyles, then accusing Trump of being a drag queen. The original message gets totally lost. Many of the poems feel completely unedited and while I don’t think one should necessarily edit one’s anger, reading over the poems a few times to see if one’s point comes across and deleting some of the junk that garbles that message would really have helped this book out. Also, I am not one to shy away from poop jokes. I enjoy various children’s chapter books that utilize such jokes and no matter what, they are funny. Yet The Adventures of Captain Underpants and The Day My Butt Went Psycho have nothing compared to the strange number of poop references in this book. When the first one pops up, you just kind of go with it. It’s weird, but okay. Then they just keep coming, sometimes taking up entire pages, and again the message gets lost. Many of the references were completely unnecessary and really took the focus away from the actual intelligent points made in the book. I didn’t necessarily object to the jokes/references, it was just that there were so many and sometimes they went on for way too long, making for some surprisingly boring poems. Overall, I gave this three stars, because despite the nonsense that sneaks its way in, I think Finley does make some good points and I love her unfiltered rage. Goodreads |