Genre: Poetry

Publication date: 23rd February 2017 by Inpress Books

Format: eARC sent to me for review by Inpress Books via Netgalley

Jennifer A McGowan’s collection of themed narrative poems is steeped in the traditions of oral storytelling and folklore.

Each section addresses a different source: world folk stories, Shakespeare and the Iliad; skillfully mining old stories for new truths, giving a voice to silent characters, or an alternative take on the accepted view – especially of women.

(from goodreads.com)

With Paper for Feet is a unique collection of poetry, and I really enjoyed it. The poetry was lyrical, and well-executed.

The poet has said that her intention was to give a voice to people who went unheard, primarily women, and she does this extremely well. I loved the way that it was divided into sections, each focusing on different characters from history or literature or folklore. The perspectives were interesting and thought-provoking, they forced me to think about those characters / people who the ‘original’ stories don’t really cover.

I did find myself struggling to understand who some of the characters were, and a little clarification would have been helpful. Otherwise though, a quick google search sorted things out, and it’s probably because I’m not that knowledgeable on folklore / mythology, even though I love reading about it. That’s probably why I found this book so good; because it focuses on a less talked about aspect to something I find intriguing anyway.

The writing wasn’t overdramatic or too flowery, which was lovely to read. It wasn’t simple either, but it flowed and wove beautiful stories and it worked so, so well.

I would definitely recommend this collection, it was insightful, unique, and I loved the writing style. It’s certainly well worth a read.

Rating: 4 / 5 🌟