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inkandplasma 's review for:

To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace
2.0

I find reviewing poetry more difficult than other novels, because it always feel even more personal than novels. I have absolutely loved Amanda Lovelace's previous works. The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One actually got me back into writing poetry after years of hiatus, and I loved the rest of the Women Are Some Kind of Magic series.

That being said, I didn't enjoy Ghost as much as I thought I would. I will preface this with the massive caveat that Ghost definitely felt focused on Lovelace's relationship with her mother, and with the loss of her mother. This made a significant portion of the book, while still moving, very difficult for me to relate to because I'm lucky enough to have always had a good relationship with my mum. So, I'm hesitant to focus any criticism on the book for this particular 'fault'.

The only thing I'm willing to actually say about this book as a broader criticism is that at points it felt very self-referential to Lovelace's previous works. If I hadn't religiously read all of her previous books, I might not have noticed, but I have, so there were times when it felt like I was reading whole poems that I'd read before.

So, I don't think this is the strongest of Lovelace's books, BUT, I fully believe that everyone should read her previous works, especially Women are Some Kind of Magic because they're a masterpiece, and I'm sure that this poetry collection will be the favourite of someone else who reads it from the perspective of their experiences.