Review: Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann

Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: bought
Publication Date: September 23rd 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Genres & Themes: YA, Fairy Tales, Poems, Real Life Matters, Feminism, Contemporary

BLURB:

Once upon a time…
you were a princess,
or an orphan.
A wicked witch,
fairy godmother,
prom queen,
valedictorian,
team captain,
Big Bad Wolf,
Little Bo Peep.
But you are more than just a hero or
a villain, cursed or charmed. You are
everything in between.
You are everything.

In fifty poems Christine Heppermann places fairy tales side by side with the modern teenage girl. Powerful and provocative, deadly funny and deadly serious, this collection is one to read, to share, to treasure, and to come back to again and again.

REVIEW:

Oh, my pretty, you compelled me!

I had no clue poems could be so exquisite. What a reading experience! Some are mystically poignant and can leave you holding tightly to something. Anything.

They can also steal your breath away, is what I discovered. It is not that I had never read a poem in my life, but I had never found myself doing it for my own pleasure and, at the same time, realizing how they could truly affect me.

What I fool was I to ignore all those collections of poems I strongly heard of before! This precious book felt like a wake up call to me. Lola, stories as you define them are not the only ones that a book can contain. Poems, for once, are more discreet, but you have to reach out for them and then you’ll see what extraordinary content they may retain.

Some of the poems inside this are not what you would maybe qualify as ‘beautiful’ but perhaps more as honest. Ones are also very peculiar or abstract and requiring a second, third, forth read. But would they be as interesting as they are, if everything were clear and obvious from the beginning? I loved how they made me think and left me analyzing.

My own favourites, between the fifty ones written, are: Sleeping Beauty’s Wedding Day, A Brief History of Feminism, Vindictive Punctuation (What an original one!), The Little Mermaid, Nature Lesson and View from the Balcony.

What I did find lacking though is the ‘fairytale’ atmosphere. I caught it in multiple poems but many don’t possess it and that is unfortunate because it cold have embellished them even more! Especially the ‘contemporary’ ones.

I had read works including feminism as theme before, but never as present and subjected to obvious opinions as it was in this. Although, that is such an important belief and movement in support of women’s rights and equality, to me, so I will look forward to reading more of it.

Unsurprisingly, I am more than recommending this read! Even if, as I was, you may not be sure that you might enjoy it. It could be that you find yourself suddenly gasping for more, in the end, as I felt. Perhaps that will not happen, but I still think it is worth trying. And, finally, if you have recommendations for me, please feel free to share them in the comments. Happy reading!