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Indecency

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( 641 ratings, 112 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Indecency is a powerful collection of poems by Justin Phillip Reed that boldly explores themes of identity, culture, sexuality, and systemic injustice. Through intricate and confrontational poetry, Reed critiques white supremacy and societal structures while delving into intimate experiences of masculinity, desire, exploitation, and incarceration. His experimental use of language creates a visceral, emotional impact that challenges readers to reconsider the boundaries of selfhood and social norms.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4700

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Indecency is ideal for readers interested in contemporary poetry that tackles complex social issues through personal and political lenses. It suits those who appreciate innovative language, challenging themes around race, sexuality, and power, and who seek emotionally intense and thought-provoking literature in the arts and culture category.

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Intricate, intimate, difficult, and confrontational poems that push at the boundaries of selfhood, skin, culture, sexuality, and blood.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Winner of the 2018 US National Book Award for Poetry

Intricate, intimate, difficult, and confrontational poems that push at the boundaries of selfhood, skin, culture, sexuality, and blood.

Indecency is boldly and carefully executed and perfectly ragged. In these poems, Justin Phillip Reed experiments with language to explore inequity and injustice and to critique and lament the culture of white supremacy and the dominant social order.

Political and personal, tender, daring, and insightfulβ€”the author unpacks his intimacies, weaponising poetry to take on masculinity, sexuality, exploitation, and the prison industrial complex and unmask all the failures of the structures into which society sorts us.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Poetry and finalist for multiple prestigious awards, Indecency has been praised for its visceral and cerebral approach. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, highlighting its eloquent yet raw examination of black identity, sexuality, and violence. The New York Times noted how the poems thrust readers into stark, physical encounters with their themes, while Library Journal called it "one-of-a-kind brilliant" with densely packed language. The Millions described the book as inspiring profound applause.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781566895149

Publisher: Coffee House Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 08 May 2018

Country: United States

Imprint: Coffee House Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 136g

Pages: 112

About the Author

Justin Phillip Reed is an American poet living in St. Louis. His work appears in African American Review, Best American Essays, Callaloo, The Kenyon Review, Obsidian, and elsewhere. He holds a BA in creative writing from Tusculum College and an MFA in poetry from Washington University in St. Louis. The author of the chapbook A History of Flamboyance (YesYes Books 2016), he has received fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation and the Conversation Literary Festival. Reed currently organizes the St. Louis community-based poetry workshop series Most Folks At Work. He was born and raised in South Carolina.

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