“We must help lift each other above the flames”
Once again, Amanda Lovelace tackles issues like rape, abuse, violence, and trauma, in her second poetry book, The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One. I was a huge fan of The Princess Saves Herself in This One, so I was really excited to read more of Amanda’s work.
I will say, I was very pleased to see that Amanda has stuck with her raw, 100% brutal honesty with this book. Something that I admire about Amanda is her ability to put absolutely everything out there to say what she wants and needs to say. It’s that gritty honesty that makes me love her work, whether the circumstances are ones I can relate to or just sympathize with.
The only issue I have with this book is kind of related to what I have seen in other reviews but not exactly that same concern. Some reviewers have stated that they find this book to be a bit on the man-hating, man-bashing feminist side. With this, I will disagree, for the most part. I didn’t get that feeling, as much as there was just a generalization throughout the poems of both men and women. It’s the theme of the book, oppressed and abused women rising with a fiery rage to take back what men stole from them. Not all men are rapists, and not all women have been raped or abused. So there was an overall generalization for both sexes.
However, I know almost as many men who have been sexually assaulted by women as I know women who have been assaulted by men. Yes, this isn’t the case for every woman, and I understand that the percent of rape for men and women is not equal. However, it does happen. And that automatically makes me protective of those men and defensive when it becomes a “men rape/beat down/oppress women, women stand up” movement, as opposed to “let’s stand up to abuse and rape and hatred.” That is why I deducted a star, because for me, personally, after 100 pages of that, it became too much when all I could think about were the men I knew who went through this as well. So that’s just personally on me.
I did enjoy this book overall. I love Amanda’s writing style and her themes throughout her books.
Have you read any of Amanda’s poetry? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Lost in Pages 
Great review Ashley! I haven’t read one of Amanda Lovelace’s books yet, but I’m actually planning on picking up The Princess Saves Herself in This One next in honor of National Poetry Month. I’m also hopeful to get to this one as well.
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