Official Review: Scatterlings by Zeena Nackerdien

[NRoach]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Scatterlings" by Zeena Nackerdien.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Scatterlings is a collection of politically minded poetry by Zeena Nackerdien. It's a short read at around sixty pages, but poetry is designed to be dipped in and out of. The poetry itself is divided into four sections: family, immigration, society, and diseases, and each part sees Nackerdien reflect on various aspects of those concepts. I devoured the whole thing in a couple of hours, and let it digest overnight before returning to it.

As I read Scatterlings, I loved the imagery and the emotions behind the text. Pieces like "Pair Bonds", dissecting gender roles and how contradictory they can be, or "A Small Business", which tells the story of a daughter struggling to keep open her late father's business, enraptured me and did exactly what Nackerdien was aiming for.

That said, I found a lot of the actual writing to be subpar. Poetry is immensely subjective, and I'm a picky one, but the disregard for a consistent meter kept me from properly engaging with the words. Oftentimes lines will come up that are simply too long and disrupt the flow, or the (poetic) feet will trip you up. Poetry has come a long way since the days of uninterrupted iambic pentameter, but the modern fashion of free verse doesn't mean no verse. I feel as though Nackerdien may have been writing for the rhyme a lot of the time, and that often weakens verse. There were a lot of couplets that I felt were a little cheap (bigot and spigot), some that felt like a stretch, and even some that simply don't work outside the US (albatross and discourse).

When it works, the poetry in Scatterlings is gorgeous. I spotted a few typos but nothing ridiculous, and on the whole it was very well put together. The whole thing is written from an American point of view, though the author's South African citizenship shines through brightly at times. I'm not sure that's a criticism, given that the target audience is likely to be other Americans, but it's something that's worth pointing out.

I give Scatterlings 2 out of 4 stars. A lot of it fell a bit too flat for me, but I think that says more about me than the book. I would honestly recommend it to everyone who's interested in this kind of political poetry. If you're not as picky a reader as I am, then you're likely to enjoy it. It provides an interesting insight into Nackerdien's ideas about the world, and I think it's definitely worth a look for poetry fans, and even for those who are just those interested in looking at the humanity behind the headlines that are many people's only experience of the world's many crises.

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Scatterlings
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Like NRoach's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Ana-Maria-Diana]

I think it is whorth reading it. The poems have different themes to talk about. It may not be the best poetry but I think reading some of them it will be nice.

[Samantha Simoneau]

This sounds like I may want to check it out, if only for the two pieces that you mention by title. Those intrigue me and I love poetry. Some of the "cheap" and "forced" rhymes would bug me too, but then, all my poetry is gathering dust on a shelf - so yay for Nackerdien!

[Marissa Michael]

This political poetry deserve to be read to me. Gonna check this out. Thank you for your review on this.

[daniya__shah3]

The subject of the poetry doesn't sound interesting to me. However, I liked how you have reviewed the book.

[Jackie Holycross]

The cover is interesting, but I’m not much into poetry collections.

[AmySmiles]

I enjoy poetry but am very picky myself. I almost picked this book up for review. Thanks for your honesty and thanks for the review.

[irungu k]

politics and poetry. ..not me! its a through review... thenk yo