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You’re Not a Girl in a Movie

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About this listen

"In poem after poem, there is raw emotion, straightforward storytelling, and unapologetic truth.” (NPR)

There exists, within [Alyan’s] poems, the cacophony that pervades our most intimate of relationships, a glistering sheen covering even the most banal interactions. Her poems feel as familiar as the prayers we make up in our own minds...they’re a quiet triumph, sacred and profane, and, most of all, grounded in humanity." (Nylon)

You’re Not a Girl in a Movie is a new collection of powerful poems by Hala Alyan, winner of the Arab American Book Award in Poetry and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In these nine extraordinary poems, Alyan wrestles with the intimate themes that have driven her acclaimed body of work to date: the aching loss of homeland, the image and worth of women, and the violence of love. In Beirut, Brooklyn, and roads in the American West, she unravels the effects of decades of war and displacement on love and human worth and identity. She speaks to mothers and grandmothers, past lovers and friends, and through her shimmering, wrenching glimpses of internal and political chaos, pleads for home.

©2020 Hala Alyan (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC. Islamic Heritage Poetry Emotionally Gripping
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this was beautiful and heartbreaking, I loved how the poetry was performed. and Even though this wasn't my story, it spoke to me

loved this

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I am struggling to put words together after listening to this.

Truly some of the most powerful, vital, and remarkable words I have ever read. There is so much in this relatively small collection, but each poem is a world and a flensed aspect of the author's soul.

There's nothing I can say to describe this that could even attempt to do these poems justice. Just listen to them.

It seems a crime that this is free on Audible. Find a way to pay this writer for their phenemonal talent and bearing their all, if you are able. I certainly will.

Heartrending, Haunting, Raw, and so very Beautiful

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These poems were potent and strong. Full of feelings. My heart aches for what she has endured.

Potent

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I can't put in to words how much her poetry has affected me. So moving.

So moving

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because there is so much in this collection that one listening can never be enough. It's heartfelt, raw and vivid and personal. Highly recommend!

I want to listen again and again

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