JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill

Beautifully illustrated feminist retellings of the great mythical goddesses.

Empowering life lessons from myths and monsters. Wonder at Medusa’s potent venom, Circe’s fierce sorcery and Athena rising up over Olympus, as Nikita Gill majestically explores the untold stories of the life bringers, warriors, creators, survivors and destroyers that shook the world – the great Greek Goddesses.

Vividly re-imagined and beautifully illustrated, step into an ancient world transformed by modern feminist magic.

‘I watch Girl become Goddess
and the metamorphosis is more
magnificent than anything
I have ever known.’

Great Goddesses is a collection of poems inspired by greek goddesses and deities — their hardships, their strengths, their determination and the lessons they faced that women today can learn from.

This collection includes over 90 poems from Nikita Gill, all keeping the focus on women and their strengths and their value. Some of the poems touch on mythical tales that the reader will recognise, and some feel a lot more modern and unique, and unknown.

Scattered throughout the book are full-page black and white illustrations to accompany some of the poems. The drawings are beautiful — emotive, visual and an additional element to draw in the reader and keep them engaged. I always love a book that incorporates hand-drawn elements, it makes the reading experience feel more authentic.

“Centuries later, I will lose my son to Troy. In a battlefield scorched in crimson and steel, I will lift his lifeless body and hold him close, tears blurring my vision. He isn’t even a man yet, I will whisper, smoothing his hairless face with the same fingers I once used to smooth his father’s brow.”

Nikita’s poems draw inspiration from ancient greek myths and legends, but present them with a new feminist twist — she focuses the lens on the strengths of women and their achievements. The women in the poems include ancient legends such as Medusa, Iphigenia and Briseis, unknown to some readers no longer.

Some of my favourite poems are the ones towards the end of the book — the ones that resonate more with modern society and with my own experiences. They’re empowering and motivating, and inspiring. I feel drawn to these poems, and I find myself rereading them to savour the messages behind them.

“Maybe that’s why you demonised them,
turned them into monsters.
because you think monsters are easier
to understand than women who say no to you.”

I’m no expert in poetry, but I didn’t feel like the poems in this collection worked collectively. The stories jump around a lot, jolting the reading. The syntax doesn’t quite flow, sometimes the vocabulary is a little off the intended meaning, and overall, I just didn’t find myself lost in the writing. I just like like I was reading it for the sake of reading, rather than really enjoying the experience.

There were only a couple of poems that I really fell in love with, and the others? Well, I didn’t really feel like I was learning enough from them. Some of them were a bit vague, and some were very detailed but without that real theme at their core to drive home to the reader.

“Remind him
Remind him
how you are still valid,
still majestic
despite his best attempts
at your ruin.”

Women will enjoy this read more than men, but that doesn’t mean men shouldn’t read this. The poems showcase the power and importance of women, the influence they have on the world and the impact they’ll leave on it. Mostly, I think this book is for fans of poetry. True fans of poetry will get more out of this read than people — like me — who aren’t regularly reading that medium of writing.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Great Goddesses
Nikita Gill
September 2019
Penguin Random House Publishers

We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

Authors Brian Conaghan and Sarah Crossan have joined forces to tell the story of Nicu and Jess, two troubled teens whose paths cross in the unlikeliest of places.

Nicu has emigrated from Romania and is struggling to find his place in his new home. Meanwhile, Jess’s home life is overshadowed by violence. When Nicu and Jess meet, what starts out as friendship grows into romance as the two bond over their painful pasts and hopeful futures. But will they be able to save each other, let alone themselves?

We Come Apart is a YA novel written in verse form, telling the story of two teenagers whose lives may be very different but both teenagers are feeling lost and alone.

Jess’ step dad abuses her mother and her brother skips out on them to live with his girlfriend. Nicu is a Romanian immigrant who is new to London and his family are lining up a wife for him. It’s his culture, he explains to Jess. But Nicu doesn’t want to marry a stranger and he doesn’t know what to do about that.

I am fifteen
and man now,
so my working in lorry van
make much sense.

Real reason we come to
England
is because I am
older,
and cannot be without
working
wealth,
or
wife.
-NICU

When the two of them meet doing community service, they become friends. They seem to bond over their broken homes and their troubled consciences, and Jess starts to separate from her friends at school. She’s popular, but they all treat Nicu terribly and she doesn’t want to stand around and watch. The boys make threats to Nicu, and they scare him in the change rooms.

I’ve been stealing stuff for ages,
Can’t remember the first time any more,
but it was way before
I started secondary school.

Small stuff back then —
other kids’ rulers,
fags from Mum’s bag.
-JESS

The style of writing in the book makes this a really quick read. You can flick through the book in one sitting. Because this is poetry and not prose, there is a lot more left unsaid than said, but I’m sure that this was the intention. The placement of each word is almost as important as the words themselves, conveying meaning in their positioning and drawing focus to emphasis.

Nicu’s story seems timely, no matter where in the world you live. In most schools, there are always going to be children who have arrived from another part of the world. Perhaps their English isn’t that great, or their religious or cultural practices are a little different from the other kids. We Come Apart highlights the bullying and racism that can go on in high school when an international student arrives.

At school I am
The boy worse than death.
Me,
the boy people won’t waste breath on.
-NICU

Both the characters are wonderful. Jess is snappy, bossy and withdrawn, and Nicu is approachable, friendly, and overly trusting. They seem like unlikely friends, but the hardships in their lives allows them to bond and forge a friendship and then a relationship.

Their relationship is not the main focus of the story, but pivots around many other elements of the book.

Shadows moving behind the front door.
A leg.
A head.
and I hear it too.
A thud.
A Scream.
And when I go in
Mum’s lying in the hallway,
blood seeping into the rug,
Terry standing over her,
his phone on the hall table.
-JESS

Don’t let the verse format of the book scare you off reading it. I’d recommend this to young adult readers, but also to people who are readers of poetry.

We Come Apart
Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan
February 2017
Bloomsbury Publishers Australia