Margaret Atwood said: "A word after a word after a word is power.'" She wasn't joking. This collection of her poetry is every bit as powerful as you'd expect.

My thanks to Penguin Random House U.K. Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Dearly: Poems’ written and read by Margaret Atwood in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful collection of poems by Atwood. Before this I had only read her novels and was actually unaware that she was also a poet. These were lovely and I bought its ebook editin to read alongside listening to the audiobook. I did note that the book includes a short letter to the reader by Atwood that isn’t included in the audiobook edition.

I am not someone who reads much poetry, yet I found these poems quite accessible. ‘Dearly’ is a thought provoking collection, exploring a variety of themes; some are quite playful and others profound. I particularly enjoyed those with nature and mythological themes.

Margaret Atwood has a very distinctive voice and clearly was the perfect reader for such a personal selection of poems.

This is bound to be a collection that I will revisit in order to appreciate the poems individually rather than reading them in a single sitting as I did initially.

This was such a wonderful listen. I adored the narrator from the very first minute. It really was so enjoyable, so enchanting, tender and thought provoking. I rewound many times to relisten to particular pieces, just as I would have looked back and reread some lines of the poems had I read them in a physical copy of the book. I highly recommend this anthology. I predict it will be a very popular choice.

These are beautiful and honest poetry. Written with mastery, we have a poetic view and rhythm of life and nature. Observations of life and living. There are also a lot of birds in these poetry. It was a joy to listen to these poems, not only because I already admire the writer but because, they well written and a joy. We need Atwood’s poetry in our lives. Highly recommended.

An interesting audiobook. Some of Margaret Atwood's works are difficult to digest and this is no different. Poems in 4 parts and part 2 was quite disconcerting in places. On the whole enjoyed but some of the deeper meanings are quire hard to digest.

This was a great experience to hear Margaret Atwood read her own poetry. I loved the poems and themes picked out in this book.
I think I would have also loved to have a paper copy to look at whilst listening. I don’t know if it was because it’s an arc but the individual poems weren’t marked as chapters or sections so some fused themselves together in my ears!

What a joy to experience poems as read by their author, and what a pleasant selection they are. Atwood's measured, knowing tone suits the themes of this collection well. The poems in 'Dearly' - Atwood's first poetry collection in a decade(!) - capture the passing of time or examine their subject from the vantage of experience. Indeed, 'Dearly' follows the death of her partner in 2019. I'd highly recommend savouring this audiobook one poem at a time, or else to let them wash over you as you have a bath, do yoga or take a walk in nature.

I wanted to read or listen to this, but it was then marked as archived before I could download the book into my device.

This was a beautifully read 2 or so hours of poetry from Margaret Atwood. It incorporates many themes; feminism, family, fantasy, nature, love, age, death, life. I'd listen to Margaret Atwood say anything for a few hours and love it!

Here was my favourite:
So many sisters lost,
So many lost sisters,
Over the year, thousands of years,
So many sent away too soon into the night by men who thought they had the right
Rage and hatred,
Jealousy and fear,
So many sisters killed over the years, thousands of years,
Killed by fearful men who wanted to my taller
Over the years, thousands of years,
So many sisters lost,
So many tears

Disclaimer - I received a free audio download of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first audiobook for review and I think Margaret Atwood’s Dearly was a good start point. The audiobook was read by the author and I found this gave the book a wonderful new level of depth from audiobooks I’d read before.

I think my most common emotion whilst listening to this audiobook was nostalgia, I think this came from a combination of the topics of the poetry and the reading style of the author. I found it to be such a peaceful, yet contemplative book to listen to, with enough fictitious tweaks to real life to keep the listener easily enraptured. Having never read one of Margaret’s books previously, I’d say that this delve into her writing style has made me curious for her other works. I’d recommend this audiobook to those wanting something easy to listen to and escape reality for a while

Although I've been a long-time fan of Margaret Atwood's novels, I hadn't really read much of her poetry before this. Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook version (narrated by Atwood herself) - I did also buy the hardback version as I think I take things in differently through reading and listening. I can recommend both formats though!

This collection of poetry was published in 2020, a year after Atwood lost her long-term partner to dementia, and the poems do understandably focus on loss, grief and ageing. However, the poems were written between 2008 and 2019 and so do also have a wider scope of Atwood's interests and concerns, among them the environment, attitudes to female bodies and the nature of memory.

Although some of the poetry is bleak, it is not without hope and the trademark flashes of dry wit for which Atwood is famous, such as in 'Everyone Else's Sex Life' - and I like to think you can hear this in Atwood's deadpan, drawling delivery of the poems.

There are some very powerful poems in the collection and I was glad to have had the hardback book to fall back upon to read the lines again and think further about them - I am not sure the audiobook, while slow paced in its narration, really gives readers the time to absorb the poetry. For this reason, I think repeated listening would be necessary.

Particularly poignant for me was the longer poem, 'Songs for Murdered Sisters'. This was written for the baritone singer Joshua Hopkins 'in honour of his own murdered sister' (as we only find out in the acknowledgements at the end of the book). This poem moves - in clearly delineated sections - from the sense of absence and grief through anger to remembrance and acceptance. It's a striking poem that stood out to me on first listen and one I've gone back to.

I can't even pretend to have absorbed and fully understood all the poetry in this collection yet. I think it is one that I will need to return to many times, yet I can say that I found the first reading very engaging, thought-provoking and moving. I'm not a crier, but definitely had a lump in my throat for some of the poems!

As other reviewers have commented, the narration by Atwood is quite flat and without much emphasis. I don't see this necessarily as a negative - I have heard Atwood read her work before so kind of expected the monotone delivery. Instead, I think her reading of the poems allows listeners to build their own interpretations of the words - and the poetry is strong enough that it packs a punch even without the narrator giving us clues through the reading.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry or who shares Atwood's concerns - and actually many of the themes are universal. What I would say is that the poetry collection is absolutely 5-star-excellent. However, I'm not wholly convinced that the audiobook is quite the right format for the poetry so I'd recommend it ideally in conjunction with a printed copy - for me, the audiobook is a 4 star presentation of 5 star material.

Perfect read. The power packed audiobook. It includes poems of various topics, from life to death. The narrator's voice is very captivating, give out the meanings of the poems in the very perfect dramatic voice, which beautifies the essence of the poem, even more. This will be best enjoyed at full volume.
I would suggest this to adults listeners.

Reviewing as an audiobook only - DNF at 20%, disliked the narration - too slow and monotone. May pick up the book one day as heard good things but the audiobook is not for me.

Initially I disliked this audiobook. I found the narration stale and robotic and didn't feel stimulated by the poetry.
However, as I sunk into it, I started to enjoy it far more. There were a few poems that I thought were clever and poignant and I got used to the monotone narration. I don't think it's for everyone but I do think it was worth pushing through.

I’m not normally one for reading poems, but as this was by Margaret Atwood, I really wanted to read this book. I listened to the audio version and was so thrilled to have the actual author read her work in the way she intended them to be heard.
I was so glad I did read this book as each poem, verse, line evokes memories of the past. Margaret covers such a wide number of topics and issues from passports and why we keep them, to wolves and aliens. Her style is so raw, truthful and also moving - even if you don’t normally read poetry, I would suggest you give this book a go. I’m inspired to read more poetry now.

Give that Margaret lost her long time partner last year, this collection reflects a obvious examination of endings and aging. Longing for what was, acceptance of what is and looking forward to what will be also feature strongly.

It is searing and harsh, honest and brutal but always Atwood. I loved hearing the words she wrote with every angry exhilaration or crack of voice being exactly how a genius wished it to be heard. One star removed for being too short ☹️

It isn't often I prefer to read a book rather than listen to it, but I definitely think this would be best to read - easier to pick up when you want to and select which poem to read.

I also found Margaret surprisingly monotone which made it harder to listen to more than a few poems in one go.

The poems are however great - poignant, shocking, thrilling, moving. I could see myself revisiting them if they were one poem per chapter - otherwise I would recommend a book!

Visceral and poignant, while also tender and evocative. I would've expected no less from Atwood and am now convinced she can do it all - personal, generational, environmental, all blend together in this poetry collection. There is something that feels experimental to Atwood's approach to poetry, so different are her approaches to each of her themes, yet everything blends together seamlessly in the end. While I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook, I feel like this is one that I'd like to revisit in a physical format. As is always the case with poetry collections, some of the poems were hits and some where misses, but there are many pieces that I would love to reread many a times.

I liked the themes of this poetry collection, particularly those about the environment as they felt relevant and important.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I read it rather than listened to the audiobook. Although it was nice to hear Atwoods voice and I usually love audiobooks to be narrated by the author. I struggled to connect with her poems and voice. It seems rather monotone

I was highly impressed with this collection of Atwood's poetic creations. I have long been a fan of her novels, short story anthologies, and the woman herself, and am so glad I found as much to praise, here.

This collection was split into five sections and each had a distinct theme that tied its contents together. My personal favourite was, I believe, the third section, which focused on spreading the author's feminist ideologies, as well as the penultimate section, which focused on the human destruction of our planet.

Despite the personal anecdotes and introspective nature that featured throughout, this also included many poems that dealt entirely with emotion that, I feel, would allow many readers to find much of themselves and their own worries inside this collection.