Read for UoW English Literature - Modes of Reading

My 3 star review is due to the sheer conflicted state this book has left me in. The reading experience of this was awful, tiring, and pained, but this is exactly what the intention of the writer is. As she states in the essay at the end of the book, she mutilates the words in the poems to reflect the mutilated lives and bodies of enslaved African people as a result of the Zong massacre. Every word on the page is meaningful and depressing and powerful, and as an artistic creation and expression, Zong! is one of the most stunning things I have ever encountered.

I feel as though the writer does not want people to enjoy reading this book - you’re intended to feel confused and tired, and that is the exact reading experience you are faced with. So my 3 star rating comes from this. I didn’t enjoy this book at all, but I appreciate the emotion put into it, the artistic beauty it creates, and the poetic standards it fully mutilates. I will likely never read this again, but it’s not something I will ever forget reading.