Why God Is a Woman by Nin Andrews

This is a remarkable collection of prose poetry, a social satire that takes our society and turns it on its head.

I first heard about this over on Jen Campbell’s channel (which you should definitely check out if you don’t know her) and much as with any other book, I immediately wanted to pick it up. However, I am not much for poetry. It always goes a bit over my head and I struggle to truly understand it, so I also tend to struggle to truly enjoy it. If you’re like me, don’t be discouraged. This is wonderful to read, poetry fan or not.

This is a prose poetry collection, which means it’s written somewhere between prose and poetry. There’s a continuing “story” throughout the whole collection, but it’s written in a lyrical and poetic tone. Nin Andrews explores a sort of mirrored world to our own, where women hold all the power. They run the country, have the best and highest paid jobs and basically are the leaders. Men, on the other hand, stay at home and raise the children and our sort of prized possessions of the women. This is a social satire and sort of mocks the absurdity of some of our cultural and social standards.

While this was smart, and sharp and witty, it was also something else, something somewhat unexpected. It was funny. For example, the boys have these “dolls” which are called Bobertos which come in all different themes and have this blown out of proportion bodies.

While this is a social satire, it tackles some other themes as well, like spirituality or religion. It has a lot to offer, and I really enjoyed her style and lyricism.

With all that said, some of the poems went a bit over my head and others I just plain did not get. I enjoyed them because they were beautifully written, but I had no real comprehension of them.

In brief, I would definitely recommend trying this out if you’re afraid of poetry and want something that is somewhat half way, and at the same time very insightful and beautiful.

If you have any poetry recommendations, please leave them in the comments below and let me know if you have read Why God Is a Women!

xxx

Advertisement