Mother/land

This collection of poetry is a must read. It focuses on motherhood and immigration. It’s written from the perspective of an immigrant mother of an American child. Some of the poems broke my heart. The poem, “When they come for us on the 7 train” almost had me in tears and I can’t stop thinking about that piece. I really enjoyed how Ananda Lima had both English and Portuguese mixed in the poems.

Mother/Land is an easily accessible poetry collection that explores themes of identity, migration and belonging and parenthood. The poems topics range from political figures to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, language and bees, but regardless of the topic the themes explored remain constant.

The language is beautiful throughout and I I loved the way the poet played with the layout and presentation of the poem.

This is a poetry collection which deals with immigration. The idea of identity and the general experiences of being an immigrant was explored. There are constant references to how different life is in New York (USA) when compared to life in Brazil. There are also references to the constant struggle between missing home (the 'motherland') and learning to live and love their new home.

In terms of the language used, a lot of the poems were told with a beautiful mix of English and Portuguese. Also, in general, the language was so dreamy. 'Eclipse' is my favourite poem mainly because of how dreamy and gorgeous the language is.

Overall, I was able to relate to a lot of the ideas surrounding immigration. I think because I was able to understand and relate to these emotions and ideas on a more personal level it contributed to my positive experience reading these poems.

Highly recommended.

Mother/land
by Ananda Lima
BooksGoSocial
OwnVoices | Poetry
OwnVoices
Poetry
Pub Date 15 Oct 2021


I am reviewing a copy of Mother/land through BooksGoSocial/OwnVoices and Netgalley:



Mother/land was the winner of the 2020 Hudson Prize. The collection of poetry is focused on the intersection of motherhood and immigration and its effects on a speaker’s relationship to place, others and self.




This book investigates the mutual and compounding complications of these two shifts in identity while examining legacy, history, ancestry, land, home, and language.





Mother/land is heavily focused on the latter, including formal experimentation with hybridity and polyvocality, combining English and Portuguese, interrogating translation and transforming traditional repeating poetic forms.





If you are looking for a collection of poetry written from the perspective of an immigrant Mother of an American child, Mother/land is the book for you.



I give Motherland five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

Mother/land by Ananda Lima is a stunning collection in the voice of an immigrant mother of an American child. I loved the lyrical quality of the seamless blending of Portuguese and English and, indeed, there is a heavy emphasis throughout on language and its place in the speaker's new motherland. The love of a parent is woven amongst the exploration of the immigrant experience, and the result is mesmerizing and, quite simply, beautiful.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an ARC.

Lima’s lyrical work reflects on motherhood and the immigrant experience; especially getting used to life in American culture. As a New Yorker I found many ways to connect to the constant motion and assault of new sounds/flavors/in reality, prejudices present in boroughs. One of my favorite moments was the reflection on the indulgence of a first PB&J sandwich, once looked upon in disdain and unfamiliarity. I am considering using this text to explore CRSE with colleagues. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Mother/ Land by @anandalima

I always preferred poems, proses over any other genre in literature.
So, reading this beautiful book made to think in a deeper level.

Mother Land focuses on motherhood and immigration. I noticed that it's written in first person and from the perspective of and immigrant mother to an American child.

This book is powerfully moving and hits the chord on the right segment.
I'm not amazed that this book won 2020s #hudsonprize because it deserves it.

It talked about the terror unknown from the new motherland of how to raise her child amid the violence and danger in today's America and also what she inherited from her family, ancestors simply migrant Brazilian past. It also reflects passing on familial legacy to the next generation.

One thing I'd like to be honest with you that as I'm from India, Portuguese language I'm not familiar with but I enjoyed the book so heartily.
I love the layouts even, written in suchban unique style.

I'd recommend this book to everyone but as it's pure art and some may or might not understand the concept of the book!

Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you @netgalley and @blacklawrencepress for the #arc in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best books I've read al year, this short collection was powerful and heartfelt and moving and beautiful. It helped me understand immigration and motherhood and even the USA a little better. 'When they come for us on the 7 train' was heartbreaking but I think my favorite was PB&J:

PB & J

As a foreigner
my identity
was against it
by default

But later
as a mother
I was
to make sandwiches

I turned away
from my American child
to hide a grimace
as the knife
slid on the oily surface
extracting
a hanging grub
the mustard of
dusty, old
midcentury velvet couches

I nagged my husband
for separate utensils
fear
of contamination

Then, one day
I was stranded
starving
under a sleeping child
The sandwich still
under his chubby fingers
bitten only once
about to fall

I moved
the free arm
closed my eyes
as survivors on TV
brought it to my lips
and bit it

Sweet swirls swimming
in fat
Thick, creamy
Fat
fromage de meaux
Unpasteurized
Beautiful body of butter

The jelly sandwiches of the past
were the ones
meant only for children
dry and bodiless
the superficial joy
of chips
from a vending machine

As I prepared
to bite again
More
than in that citizenship
swearing ceremony
earlier that month
I felt
As an American

The front cover is really good which draw me to the book at first sight. There was some poems I did enjoy but others that I found hard to relate to but overall I enjoyed the book.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

Thank you netgalley for this arc🙏🏻

The poems focused on state of being motherhood and immigration and its effects on a certain factors. It meticulously focus deeply on certain themes like love, attachment, repercussions and acceptance.

Go read this book, right now. This is a sensual, intense, brilliant poetic account of Lima's move to and life in America, with frequent homages to poet Nathaniel Mackey and the musician Caetano Veloso. The text moves lyrically between English and Portuguese and never loses a beat. Lima writes about nationality and motherhood, what borders mean and how she raises her son in America. I could--and will--read this repeatedly, and can't wait to teach it and share it with other readers.

Mother/land, 4 stars.

This is a collection of some truly beautiful poetry. "Vigil" was definitely my favorite. Lima has an amazing hold on language, whether English or Portuguese. These poems are raw and candid, an outpouring of emotion and uncertainty and longing. What makes up a person's identity? How does motherhood change that? Can a person truly be whole when they are split between countries, worlds?

The intersection between motherhood and motherland/ immigration is explored with sensitivity by Ananda Lima in this collection. I understand why the poet blended English with Portuguese, but as a reader of only English, it wasn't to my taste. I was able to enjoy, however, many of the poems and the spirit of the publication.

Thank you to the publisher and poet for an advanced copy.

Mother/land is an Own Voices collection of poems by Ananda Lima. As far as content is concerned, Lima focuses on the experience of parenting in a foreign land; as far as style is concerned, Lima experiments with form and writes in both English and Portuguese. Her tone is tender at times and then piercing and poignant.

For me, there were very few shortcomings in Mother/land. I bring my own weaknesses to the text because there were some cultural references that I did not know or understand, and I am not familiar with Portuguese. These are not detrimental to the the book as whole because there are still many entry points with several of the poems. It's hard to choose one favorite, but I really enjoyed "Mother Tongue," "Toast to America," and "Bird." While I'm not sure if I fully grasp the meaning of them, I liked the diction and the rhythm of these poems. "Mother Tongue" illustrates the importance of language and how it keeps one connected to culture, yet she's forced to give in and speak to her son in her "broken version of his language." This undoubtedly puts some distance between herself and her son because although she wants to share as much with him as possible, she recognizes the limitations of speaking Portuguese in a land with an "unofficial official language." The poem is dated 11/09/2016, so I interpreted some subtle political commentary. I felt similar vibes in "Toast to America," as she says, "Like that/ I overstayed/here it went by so quickly," and now she is "burnt," just like the toast in her toaster oven. Lastly, "Bird" stood out because of the lines, "Do I tell my four year old son it has no room to fly that the net over the sky could never be high enough." While this poem has some sly political commentary, it also illustrates how parents have to find ways to speak to their children about difficult topics, i.e. the limitations one faces in life, especially as it pertains the "American Dream" and the illusion of freedom, notably for immigrants.

While I'm not sure I could fully appreciate all the poems in the collection, I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Own Voices books and some challenging, thought-provoking poetry.

A prize-winning collection from Ananda Lima, Mother/land explores the way becoming a parent and an immigrant impact our identities. Lima weaves together English and Portuguese to tell stories about what we carry with us from the past, what happens when a new life (physical and metaphorical) arrives to push out the old and the feelings of discombobulation, joy and loss this brings. The result is a confident, skillful collection that gives a personal twist to a universal story.

Reading this poetry collection was a life-changing experience. I’ve been an avid poetry reader for about four years now, and I admit that most of my reading revolves around American poets. So, at this point, I’m very familiar with the English language. But, from the beginning, I’ve always sought more diverse poets, maybe because I latched with their poetry more than the average white poet (even though I’m white myself). What I loved the most about these poets, was the way they talked about their identity through their poems, be it their race or ethnicity, sexuality, gender, etc. To me, that was what brought those poems to light and made them so damn gorgeous.

But since these four years began, this is the first time I read a Brazilian poet writing in English and by extension also in Brazilian Portuguese - something I feel deserved more attention, because I first though the author was Portuguese and not Brazilian. There’s a different, even so slightly, between these two languages and that should be pointed out -, and doing so beautifully. Another thing I love about writers who have English as their secondary language (instead of their primary), it’s how they bleed - or switch, per se - into their mother-tongue while writing, while expressing themselves. I believe my first encounter with such a method was while reading Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds, where he makes some remarks in Vietnamese instead of English. And I LOVED that. As someone whose mother-tongue isn’t English, I feel a different sort of connection while reading someone express themselves in something other than English. I understood that so deeply. So that might be one of the reasons why I loved this poetry collection so much.

Ananda Lima created a beautiful tapestry, woven poetry between English and Brazilian Portuguese words, talking about her complicated relationship as an immigrant in America, while also looking back with saudade (a Brazilian word that can be roughly translated as a nostalgic feeling) to her Brazilian roots. This poetry collection was its own soul and I think it’s a very beautiful one. I loved that this was my first time reading a Brazilian author expressing themselves in both English and Brazilian Portuguese. May this collection open more doors to other Brazilian poets currently residing in the United States. Would definitely recommend this collection to people who like poets such as Ocean Vuong, Ada Limón, Eduardo C. Corral and Victoria Chang.

Thank you netgalley for this arc🙏🏻

The poems focused on state of being motherhood and immigration and its effects on a certain factors. It meticulously focus deeply on certain themes like love, attachment, repercussions and acceptance.

Thank you to the publisher Black Lawrence Press for the opportunity to review Mother/Land in advance of its publication in October 2021.

What struck me first about Ananda's writing style is the dual-language (English and Portuguese) which was used throughout the collection as the perspective to an American child from a mother who had immigrated to the states was beautiful. The formatting is both welcoming and accessible to all readers and at moments, I found myself transported into a cafe or a park bench setting as if Ananda was actually having a conversation with me.

This collection of reading and learning about finding purpose, belonging, and what it truly means to call a place home had lots of emotional reflections on remembering the past and keeping your ancestry close, allowing it to shape you into the person you become today. I can see why Mother/Land has also become an award-winning collection after winning the Hudson Prize. If it was a little longer in length, I would have enjoyed it even more. I will be seeking an order request for a copy to my library.

This is a solid collection from Ananda Lima, exploring life as a mother and immigrant to the US from Brazil. The mix of English and Portuguese was nicely done. Some of the poems - PB&J, Mother Tongue, and Toast to America - are particular standouts. Thanks to Black Lawrence Press for making a digital ARC available through NetGalley..

This collection of poetry is very different than I have ever read before. However, the language that it is written in was absolutely breathtaking. I felt as if I was right there with the narrator in their home country and going through each situation side by side with them. I highly recommend this poetry collection to anybody!

Heartfelt and honest, Ananda Lima’s debut poetry collection Mother/land is at once a song of motherhood, a lament for home, and a meditation on the immigrant struggle to find true belonging in the U.S. As an immigrant from Brazil and parent of an American-born son, Lima uses her poems to reflect on both grief over her personal experiences and the fierce, self-sacrificial love for her child that brought her through those difficulties.
In Mother/land, an interest in divisions and multiplicity permeates both form and content — a focus that is perhaps best illustrated in the stylistic rendition of the title itself. Lima’s simple slash symbol explodes the word “motherland” into several layers of encounters with grief. Thematically, Lima grapples with a series of dualities: past and present, Brazil as her homeland and America as her new land, identities as an immigrant and mother. Her poems construct a smooth, moving interplay between autobiography, national history, and anticipation of the future for her son.
While many poems explore the tensions between immigrant identities, I was also especially interested in the way Lima weaves together different kinds of language — Portuguese, biblical language, dialogue associated with settings ranging from airport security checkpoints to architecture tours. In “Seven American Sentences,” Lima uses language from the Genesis creation story in conjunction with shameful aspects of the United States’s human rights record, coolly drawing attention to the discrepancy between proclaimed American ideals and the reality of injustice.
Beyond detailing Lima’s modern-day experiences with feeling “other” in the U.S., Mother/land draws extensively on American history as part of Lima’s internal wrestling with the reality of the U.S. as her new country, far removed both geographically and socially from her motherland. In “Cleaning the Colonial,” Lima repurposes the language of colonialism when addressing her house, almost like a reclamation of that act of possession: “I occupy your hollow rooms and populate them with private song.” She also confronts the reality that, despite the immigrant’s enduring struggle for a sense of belonging, the once independent strands of history between herself and the foreign country she moved to have since become inextricable:

By now we understand
you don’t really belong
to me
and I don’t really belong
but we have come to accept
that our histories have commingled

Lima compellingly evokes the complexity of the immigrant experience by portraying blurred and unclear divisions. In “monday between [[impeachment or [something]] and the end of the world],” we visualize the lack of an audible distinction between words:

I can’t
tell the difference
morning | mourning
luto | luto…
perfume | perfume

One element that most powerfully distinguishes Mother/land from other immigrant narratives to me is the collection’s resounding musicality. Repetitions of similar-sounding Portuguese words drive poems like “every moon,” which read like chants or songs that are at once artful and unrestrained, metered and intense, brimming with emotion and soul. Similarly, in the collection’s final poem, “Berimbau,” the infusions of Portuguese add a musical quality as rhythmic and percussive as the “beat of running” and the “meat and bones cracking / dirt” that the poem describes, culminating in a rapturous ending:

Bimba Toque de luna we
follow o compaço de aço o compaço do passo
o compaço da culpa do
Sol

Meanwhile, “Translation” and “Moving Sale” experiment ambitiously with form, re-imagining the structures of the sestina and the pantoum by replacing moments of pure repetition with Portuguese translations. Additionally, though I was initially skeptical of Lima’s enjambment choices, I came to appreciate how her collection-wide style of short broken lines seems to evoke the effort it takes to learn and speak English as a second language (with her own language itself remaining ever graceful and poignant):

I
was afraid for him
speaking anything other
than the unofficial
official language
of this land
which is not my land
despite the claims
it makes in song
I gave in
and spoke to him
in my broken
version of his
language

Since the U.S. fails to live up to its ideals as described in songs — the land of the free, a country that welcomes all and celebrates diversity — Lima writes her own poems into song. Whether immigrants ourselves or not, Mother/land can speak to the many of us who have grappled with existing in a national context that puts up barriers on so many fronts, from language to physical movement. Lima’s collection resounds with both incantations in her mother tongue and with English refrains that burn blue with longing, with the search for home.

A really beautiful collection of poems. Some of them were perhaps a little abstract and hard to follow, which isn't usually a problem in poetry, seeing as it's not a narrative form, but I found that some of them were trying to tell me a story I couldn't quite grasp; perhaps that's the point, as our life experiences are so different. Lima's language is absolutely wonderful, though, at once elegaic and euphoric, and her use of both Portuguese and English in the same poems is a really interesting way of weaving together the dual facets of her identity. I would recommend reading this one slowly.

MOTHER/LAND by poet Ananda Lima is a beautiful exploration of motherhood and the migrant experience through English and, sometimes, Spanish. Lima uses two languages to construct a deeply moving narrative about the hardship of being a parent in a hostile land you aren't sure you belong to despite laws, borders, and blood.

I think the author did a good job at telling a story with her poems
I really liked the use of Portuguese in her poems and although I do not speak Portuguese, it added another dimension of realness to the poems.

This debut poetry collection follows an immigrant mother of an American child. These poems question what it means to be an immigrant and a mother, what defines motherland, the role of language, and how they clash and transform over time and place. Although Brazilian Portuguese appears throughout the collection, it did not hinder my reading flow. Lima's notes at the end of the collection also contextualize Brazilian cultural references, news, texts, and other media that a poem used, referred to, or responded to. Above all else, Lima’s poetry collection takes great care to not simply reduce the speaker as a mother or to her immigrant identity. This thought-provoking collection is a great addition to the growing number of works by Brazilian authors (including those residing in the United States and other countries).

One for the coffee table.

Not the performative coffee table that things go to die in dusty, display hell, but the one where you put books you want to wear out and hope your guests will too.

I appreciate the language, the representation, the spirit of migrants past and aspiring hopefuls. The exploration of the home we choose to let our dreams rise in the east of and our realities set west in.

I’ve read this once and I already know I’m going to have to come back to NetGalley to update this review as I find new meanings in each independent page of the collection.

Christmas stocking definite. I might also have to add this to the books I buy for new moms. Thank you!

A wonderful collection of poetry, easy to read and very likeable. A good start in the genre, browsing different subject from the hardest to the funniest.

Thank you to Books Go Social and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Eloquent and elusive, Ananda Lima's Mother/Land is a meditation on motherhood, motherland and Mother tongue. Flowing effortlessly between Portuguese and English, the book takes place in a liminal space between Brazil and America. As a new Mother myself, I deeply related to Lima's worries of not being rooted in either culture enough & how that would impact her parenting. A great debut collection!

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review. This was a beautiful collection, mostly focused on themes of family and immigration. It is a stunning collection, very moving, and obviously deeply personal.

I'm an American-born child of an immigrant, so while my experience is somewhat opposite to the narrator of this collection, I still found it was something I could connect with strongly. This is a collection of hard-hitting yet accessible poetry that weaves together themes of immigration, identity and motherhood in a unique way. There's a heavy emphasis on language, which rang true to me as it's often a point of contention and disconnect between immigrant parents and children.