The Hollow of the Hand

by P.J. Harvey, Seamus Murphy

Between 2011 and 2014, PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy set out on a series of journeys together to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, D.C. Harvey collected words, Murphy collected pictures, and together they have created an extraordinary chronicle of our life and times. The Hollow of the Hand marks the first publication of Harvey's powerful poetry, in conversation with Murphy's indelible images. It is a landmark project and will be published internationally in autumn 2015.

As PJ Harvey says: "Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with. Following our work on Let England Shake, my friend Seamus Murphy and I agreed to grow a project together lead by our instincts on where we should go."

Seamus Murphy adds: "Polly is a writer who loves images and I am a photographer who loves words. Our relationship began a few years ago when she asked me if I would like to take some photographs and make some films for her last album Let England Shake. I was intrigued and the adventure began, now finding another form in this book. It is our look at home and the world."
The Hollow of the Hand will be available in a hardback edition with highest quality photographic reproductions, as well as a reader's paperback version. A limited number of signed special editions will also be available.

Genres: Poetry, Art, Nonfiction, Music, Photography, British Literature, Poetry Plays

232 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2015

About the author

Polly Jean Harvey, MBE (born 9 October 1969), known as PJ Harvey, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, writer, poet, and composer.

Reviews

[Tony Vacation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite my designs to one day have PJ Harvey fall as madly in love with me as I am with her, I can distance myself from the longings of my heart enough to say that this is some pretty good stuff! Harvey keeps it simple, putting down poems no longer than a page, with clean and unadorned verse. While her poetry may not draw the amount of attention to her wild talent as does her music, the offering here operates as a moody travelogue for her sojourns through Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC over the past two decades. She's more interested in putting the poverty and strength of human endurance on the page than dazzling the reader with poetic pyrotechnics; she does, however, go for some Gothic gusto with the horrors of war-torn Afghanistan. But mostly she lets the desolate emptiness of Kosovo or the swagger of people on the streets of DC speak for itself. Her companion on these journeys, Seamus Murphy, adds some girth to this collection with a provocative array of photographs from all three locales, serving as a visual break between each section of PJ's poetry. But what's really important to note is that Polly Jean Harvey, I love you!

[Nada El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where it begins

a revolving wheel
of metal chairs

hung on chains
squeals in heat

Four children fly
over red dirt

A cassette tape
of a sad song

loud and harsh
from a truck

The chairs blur
and form a ring

that ends
where it begins

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harvey's poetry is straightforward, but poignant as she surveys ravaged humanscapes in two war torn nations and, tellingly, in the heart of the American empire. Murphy's photographs tend to be more oblique and ambiguous. Both strands are very good, although neither achieves quite the urgency or depth of a true classic. Still, a handful of these images and verses will linger long in the mind.

[Agris Fakingsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

..izjusti skaists dzejas un fotogrāfiju kopdarbs no vienas no labākajām izpildītājām. darbs, kas atstāj rētas.

..te grāmatas videoversija (kāda vīrieša šķirstījumā): vimeo.com/405386367

[Jared Levine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love PJ but not in this book.

The photos in this are really stunning. They do a good job of depicting the places as complex. As a places that ARE decrepit, but still able to be dynamic—beautiful even. with community. With moments of happiness still.

PJ paints these places more flat. Just as decrepit. From a point of the inability to see past the decrepitness.

But how could these poems be different? An affluent white person travels to these places and publishes her travel journal. It's what one would expect.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointingly just ok at 3🌟 from me. It's about decidedly difficult issues of war, colonisation, urban decay and social injustice, but it all felt so distant, dissociated and cold. Harvey came over to me as a tourist: detached and observing the spectacle. She hasn't appeared that way in interviews I've seen, so I was expecting something with more heart.
A few of Murphy's photographs are spectacular, but, again, overall left me rather cold.

[Heidi Kuchta · Rating 2 out of 5]

These poems were frequently paltry. I realized quickly that the book's theme contains too much borrowed pain. Harvey is expressing a pain to her audience that is not really hers, and the photographs do such a better job of that. The tone of "giving voice to the voiceless" makes me uncomfortable, and the poor execution didn't help. As a collection of photographs, I found the layout boring.

[Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soy una fan devota de PJ Harvey y de todo lo que hace, así que abrí este libro con mucha fruición. Puede que demasiada...Algo pasa a mi parecer con los poemas: no acaban de funcionar. Puede que la traducción haga que se pierdan matices, pero los leo en inglés y me pasa lo mismo. Supongo que requiere una nueva lectura tras dejarlo reposar un tiempo.

Las fotografías de Seamus Murphy me han parecido, en cambio, totalmente increíbles. Para algunos gustos abusará de la edición para crear imágenes demasiado pictóricas e irreales, pero personalmente encuentro que funcionan.

Un buen libro en conjunto, aunque no por los motivos que esperaba.

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

My foray with poetry usually goes awry, yet I still won't give it up. Some were impactful; a lot flew over my head, but when these come from the perspective of an English person, I'm not surprised that many would miss the shot. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about Harvey speaking upon such subjects when it isn't her pain to bear, though I realize her words still can be interesting in their own right. Where her writing lacks, the photographs really come through, though. Many stunning ones that speak for themselves. I wouldn't be mad if this was just a book of Murphy's pictures. 

[Daniel]

Quando primeiro procurei por The Hollow of the Hand numa livraria, o moço perguntou-me trocista se PJ Harvey era mesmo o nome da autora [mal sabia ele que o Nobel do Bob Dylan vinha a caminho]. Disse-me que não tinham. Não acreditei, e não fiz encomenda, este livro haveria de me vir parar às mãos de forma mais graciosa. E assim foi, uns dias depois passei por lá e a livreira mais simpática (!) passou-me para as mãos o exemplar último que afinal sempre tinham.

E que bom foi ler a poesia da PJ Harvey e imergir nas realidades do Kosovo, Afeganistão e Washington DC pelos portais que Seamus Murphy nos abre com a fotografia.

[gorecki · Rating 3 out of 5]

No matter what, PJ Harvey is always queen.

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a beautiful pairing of work between two talented artists, PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy. It sparked so many random thoughts in me.

The Kosovo segment was straight forward but unique. I think PJ Harvey’s poems in the Afghanistan section were the most impactful. It’s so interesting to me that back in the day, musicians would go to other countries on a sort of like culture-exchange that from the outside looked like an exploration-in-exploitation type of adventure (I'm thinking of the Beatles and their going to India) and it seemed super self-serving. It looks like nothing has really changed where English musicians are concerned. I know that sounds really bad - but it was just a random thought I had while reading these poems and examining these images.

You'd think they'd stop doing that because of how voyeuristic it looks/feels. If you're so concerned with the problems of nations, I mean — deal with the problems in your own backyard first. Honestly, I'm saying it, and I can't believe how bad it sounds. I don't mean it to be negative that way, but it’s just undeniable to me, especially in the wake of Brexit. Anyway, I love PJ HARVEY. I do. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a slight to her, it’s just an honest question that came about in my mind. She's still a favourite musician of mine.

In fact, I played the Hope Six Demolition Project while going through this book of poetry and photography and all her poetry here was all represented on that record so marvellously. The combination of reading her poetry and listening to the record at the same time stoked so many questions in my heart and soul. It really made me think about white people’s conscious or unconscious need to tell other people's stories, for example. What mobilizes artists to choose three different geographical areas to expose and cover their poverty and their brokenness, without equally covering their beauty and their joy? Is it the artists’ inner war/inner struggle/working towards personal development/battling themselves for peace that leads them to try to find a place geographically of external conflict to land? Somewhere opposite to the peace and tranquillity of their own idyllic life in whatever superpower they came from? Is it the need to genuinely learn in-person and document the lives of others that you have a random/sporadic interest in? Voyeurism. Is it just that you need something pious to talk about because your other frontiers have been conquered? And, have they? Really? Is everything great at home? Where are all the women in your work? In this work in particular? No one could even remotely accuse PJ Harvey of not being an important figure in feminism. But where're all the women in this work?

When I look at photography these days, it's hard for me to go to not what’s shown, but what’s missing... And only when you get to the Washington, DC images, do you get to some inclusion of women and girls. There are pictures in the Kosovo/Afganistan sections with dozens of men and boys together. Same with the poetry, it’s descriptive of a multitude of men and boys — out there, begging, waiting, tortured, longing, having a multitude of emotions, but most importantly, they’re there. They're out there. What's missing? Who's story isn't being told?

The hand, the beggars, the boy, the glass... All these depictions are missing pertinent other halves. Silent halves.

PJ Harvey can’t help but be a melodic and lyrical writer and the poetry reflects that sentiment! Being a debut work, I enjoyed her first book of poetry and her sharing space with photographer Seamus Murphy, but it left me with so many questions!

[Rosette Rouhana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brought up mixed feelings for me. I was curious by its nature and the mix of poetry with photography to tell individual stories of a shared experience.

Being taken through the poetry of PJ Harvey to explore her interaction and experience with Kosovo and Afghanistan. A handful of poems caught my attention however, many of the poems felt underdeveloped, rushed or two dimensional in nature. I would’ve loved to have a deeper understanding of what was seen, heard, felt, but it felt like something was missing.

The photographs by Seamus Murphy filled in the gaps in the story and added the emotional and heart wrenching element that was missing from the poetry in the Kosovo and Afghanistan segment.

The poems of Washington DC did little to stimulate my mind or connection to the two cities and worlds. The photographs I enjoyed and was able to piece together a vibrant and evoking story.

My favourites were Chain of Keys, Adhan and The Boy.
‘Young boy in your face
Every loss I can trace
Follow you enter in
Put my feet in your footprints’
Pg76/77

[Lauren Deville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful anthology that examines the lives of those living in war torn Kosovo and Afghanistan, with the final section looking at how America (specifically Washington DC) has everything and nothing. Jump straight to the poem Two Ceremonies if you want to get a snapshot of the spirit of the text.

It’s no surprise that I loved reading PJ Harvey’s first collection of published poetry. Just look at the way her lyrics wrangle history and poetry in albums like Let England Shake. Or her story telling combined with commentary on gender in Dry. She can’t put a foot wrong as far is I’m concerned and this collaboration with Seamus Murphy’s poetry is stunning. For two outsiders looking in, the have hit the right tone and sent the right messages.

[Nikos Dunno · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is amazing how well the poems of PJ and the images of Seamus work together. PJ's poems are so descriptive that the mind fills with images, and Seamus' photos, even though they're left without any description until the very end of the book, appear full of meaning and emotions. Easy to read because of its size, yet hard to digest because of its subject, it is definitely haunting and will follow me for a very long while!

[Sergio D. Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"El hueco de la mano" es una libro sorprendente. En los textos de P.J. Harvey hay un tránsito muy interesante entre el diario de viaje y el poema que le permite, de alguna manera, circunnavegar temas que la obviedad convertiría en estampas grotescas. La escritura recuerda mucho a lo hecho en las letras del disco "Let England Shake". Sin embargo, no me queda duda de que lo mejor del libro son las fotografías de Seamus Murphy: impresionantes, dolorosas y profundamente bellas.

[J D Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is deeply moving read! Harvey travels war torn countries and picks images of the sorrow of the everyday and transforms them into beautiful poems and prose. Exquisite!

Like her music Harvey writes the melancholy of loss almost too well. Her imagery is haunting and yet beautiful in its construction. And her words are never plagued by posturing or over-dramatisation.

Truly beautiful!

[Helen]

I looked for themes/motifs in Harvey’s poetry. "On A Dirt Road," "The Orange Monkey," "African Voices (National Museum of Natural History)" are poems that start the sections on Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington D.C. They connect as a journey. Poems like "Sight Seeing, South of the River", "To the Oldest Homo Sapiens", and "Medicinals" are three in the same section (Washington D.C.) that stood out to me as intertwined themes on evolution and society.

There are other poems that echo in tandem themes which hint at bearing witness to unspeakable horrors in all sections throughout the book. I appreciated Harvey's judicious use of repetition: "what did they see?" Observations on silence haunt from page to page. I also liked the use of spacing in the poem "The Boy". It makes you feel trace "foot prints". Wouldn't quite call it a concrete poem, where spacing forms an image (although the gap between two shifting columns of text resembles a winding path, like a river), more this poem has a rhyme and meter that bridges the gaps on the page and brings you into the scene.

There is a photo that spans pages 54-55 by Seamus Murphy that made me cognizant of all references to hands, not only in Harvey’s poetry, but functioned as a sort of sign post, to stay alert for them while observing their context and the focus, throughout his share of the contributions. Consequently half of the close up shots where hands dominate the image belong to those of dead people. The other half suggest a tenuous grasp on life itself. Are hands the true subjects of the photo or merely represent a metaphor for situations the two find on this journey? Hard to say for sure without extra info, like say from an interview, but I tend to think it's a little of column A and a little of column B.

[aqilahreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

between 2011 and 2014, pj harvey and seamus murphy set out on a series of journeys to kosovo, afghanistan and washington dc. sharing a common appetite and purpose, harvey collected words, murphy collected pictures.

really enjoyed reading this! it was a super fast read, would be able to finish in one sitting. AND THE PHOTOGRAPHS. oh my goodness, they are absolutely stunning and really captures the places oh so beautifully. however, i wished that the poetry bits of it would be a bit more balanced out with the photography as its not as moving as the pics. my favourite section of the book is afghanistan though. :) highly recommended if you would like to explore photopoetry or poetry in general.

[Quetzal Nimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gusta la música de PJ Harvey y ahora soy fan de su poesía. Es un libro narrativo que intenta hacer tres relatos de la decadencia, la violencia, la ternuray la esperanza. Desvanece a Estados Unidos como el país de las oportunidades y lo contrasta con Afganistán y Kosovo. Uno se sorprende de que ahí en lo más ruin pueden existir todos los sueños del mundo. No hablo de la foto porque no sé, pero SUPER RECOMIENDO.

[Matthew Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

You could consider this a companion piece to PJ Harvey's terrific album, The Hope Six Demolition Project. Both works deal with the same subject matter, and having both really completes the experience. Clearly, some of the lyrics for the album were taken from the poems here. The photographs are both gritty and lovely.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre me gustó la lírica de PJ Harvey, pero en este caso siento que sus poesías no tuvieron ese poder galopante. El libro está dividido entre Kosovo, Afganistán y Washington DC, siendo el segmento de Afganistán demoledor. Las fotografías de Murphy me interpelaron mucho más que los poemas, y tanto las que son a color como las blanco y negro tienen un magnetismo impresionante.

[Eduardo Matías · Rating 5 out of 5]

La poesía de PJ Harvey resulta un tanto provocativa, despierta sensaciones de opresión y liberación; es ir leyendo y recreando las imágenes de las que nos habla que muchas veces son muy cruentas. Si a eso se le suman las fotografías de Seamus Murphy se tiene un libro bastante emotivo. Es maravilloso advertir algunos versos e incluso poemas completos que aparecen también en su discografía. La edición bilíngüe fue un gran acierto de la edición.

[Leopoldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inteligencia, intensidad, empatía. Un dúo magnífico de artistas.

[Ricardo García Mainou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quizá lo primero que habría que decir sobre El hueco de la mano (The hollow of the hand), es que se trata de un libro inusual. El primero de ese tipo para sus autores: un libro de poemas/canciones y reportaje/fotografía.

El volumen fue editado casi en forma simultánea en Inglaterra, EEUU y nuestro país. Aquí lo edita Sexto Piso, una editorial que lleva el riesgo en la sangre y no tiene miedo en apostar por el arte antes que por el mercado.

El libro recoge tres viajes que realizaron P.J. Harvey y Seamus Murphy a Kosovo, Afganistán y Washington. Y alterna los poemas/canciones de la Harvey con fotografías a color y blanco y negro de Murphy. Es la segunda colaboración de ambos creadores, después de los 12 cortos filmados por Murphy para acompañar el disco previo de Harvey.

El libro se vuelve también una suerte de anticipo, tanto del documental filmado por Murphy a propósito de los viajes, como del nuevo disco de Harvey (ambos a presentarse el próximo año).

Después del éxito del excepcional Let England Shake (2011), probablemente el mejor de su inusual discografía, Harvey recibió la Orden del Imperio Británico. Como suele suceder después de una obra mayor, se especuló que su siguiente disco sería una decepción. En enero, Harvey empezó a grabar el frente una audiencia en vivo. Se reportó que las letras serían tan políticamente cargadas como su predecesor, pero dirigido a una audiencia global y con arreglos instrumentales sofisticados. Es el tipo de reporte que no ayuda mucho.

La carrera musical de Harvey ha oscilado entre el rock alternativo, el art rock, los blues punk y la música experimental. Excéntrica, no ha tenido reparo en asumir posiciones públicas polémicas, “el mito del artista torturado es popular, pero es pura basura” declaró alguna vez a The Times.

La Oscuridad Visible de Murphy
La Oscuridad Visible de Murphy

Es la primera vez que publica poesía en forma de libro ( aunque es perfectamente aceptable argumentar sus canciones son precisamente eso). Hay algo por igual congruente e inquietante en su estilo estético.

El centro de la carrera de Murphy es el fotoperiodismo, por lo menos lo que le ha valido el reconocimiento internacional. Su libro más conocido es A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan, que después convirtió en un cortometraje documental, abrazando su segunda y natural vocación como cinematógrafo. De ahí nace su colaboración con Harvey, esos doce cortos más cercanos, en su lenguaje, al séptimo arte que al videoclip.

El hueco de la mano está dividido en tres secciones, una para Kosovo, una para Afganistán y una para Washington. Inicia con los poemas de Harvey editados en forma bilingüe, y después con las fotografías de Murphy. La decisión editorial es afortunada, porque nos permite inundarnos con las imágenes poéticas antes que las fotografías le pongan color y rostro a las emociones. El efecto es un golpe doble. El primero en el texto, sean las aldeas abandonadas de muros agujerados de Kosovo, los niños entre ruinas, la anciana que custodia la aldea vacía con un manojo de llaves que nadie usa. La alegría violenta y desesperada de Afganistán, la cáscara de un tanque quemado, los niños y mendigos, un dólar, mister, como mantra interminable.

And sounds of weeping came instead of music.

And I walked out trembling and pushed my face into the soil.

And sounds of weeping came instead of words or speeches.

And dark evenings arrived at dawn and wailing rose from the village.

El hueco de la manoEs una fortuna que la edición del libro sea bilingüe, las palabras en inglés en la página izquierda y su traducción a la derecha. Particularmente porque esta última es muy deficiente. Me queda claro que es difícil traducir poesía, pero más aún cuando se recurre a la literalidad y se apunta a la neutralidad lingüística. El lenguaje de Harvey es todo menos neutro, la traducción de Pedro Carmona intenta pasarla por un rasero semiótico: en una línea explica de más, en la siguiente se le va la palabra clave.

Lo que no necesita traducción son las imágenes de Murphy. Algunas son una bofetada que quita el aliento. No sólo por su contundencia periodística, sino por la desoladora concatenación de despojos, basura, miradas desoladas, manos marcadas y naturaleza destruida, inundada por la lectura previa de los poemas. Ambos artistas visitaron el infierno en la tierra, y su mirada no es romántica o complaciente, sino empática y dolida; no importa si son las calles destruidas de los Balcanes, las aldeas afganas o los barrios inundados por droga y crimen en la capital de la potencia mundial. Y aún así, cabe la aclaración: la visita a la capital estadounidense no es un ejercicio de militancia pacifista facilona.

El vínculo entre vencedor y vencido, entre el visitante que no se va aunque le arrojen piedras, y las casas abandonadas de uno y otros, nunca más aparente que en Two Cemeteries, un poema que alterna lápidas entre Afganistán y Washington: entre el mercado de cabras y los memoriales de guerra.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sparse, moving collection of poems and photos continues and extends Harvey’s ‘war’ project, seen in her two most recent albums Let England Shake and The Hope Six Demolition Project in which she explores the experience, the emotions and the memorialisation of wars.

Focussing on three sites of conflict – Kosovo/Kosova, Afghanistan and Washington DC – Harvey’s clean, in places sparse, poetry and Murphy’s unsettling photos grapple with past and present conflicts, continuing and unknown (or a least unrecognised) sites of war. In Kosovo, a military conflict over in the 1990s is shown as continuing to live in the towns, villages and countryside of what is now a small, disputed European state. These are photos of continuing, banal existence in the context of a war of ethnic cleansing – burnt out houses, dead livestock, absent corpses, the everyday ordinariness of loss. Alongside these, Harvey’s poetry speaks of the continuing the presence of those that otherwise seem absent (that is, of the potency of memory in evoking the past in the present) and the continual sense that there might just be some return to a former balance, while acknowledging that that can never be.

If Kosovo is war’s past, Afghanistan is war’s continuing presence, its continuing marred landscapes that are open but inaccessible, while in use by virtue of necessity. The corpses are present here, the gaols empty but a looming threat, the livestock living, the people’s blank faces psychologically scarred and the cricket just a little desperate. The recurring poetic theme is the beggars, in need of a dollar – a failure of liberation by vengeful war. This theme is accompanied by efforts made to ensure empathy, to understand; by being lead to the experiences unseen by outsiders but that make universal the experience of military conflict; of the persistence and longevity of the detritus of war. This, the largest section of the three, is a condemnation of a poorly conceived war in an inadequately understood environment accompanied by the arrogance of a correctness on behalf of those being liberated.

It’s the Washington DC section that is, in some ways, the most unsettling. Here is the cockpit driving the Afghan experience, while the focus is not on the military adventurism abroad but conditions of life for the city’s low income, working class, principally but far from exclusively Black population – which I cannot avoid reading as one side of DC’s class war. There is beauty and poverty, exhaustion and debate, work and affection – and in poetic form persistence, resilience, memorialisation and a sense of the playfulness of the everyday, along with the beggars failed by the war on poverty and failed now. By including the federal capital the collection points to something rotten at the core of global superpowerdom, suggesting a global dynamic of shared loss.

Murphy’s eye is near flawless, challenging and evoking the ways we see. Harvey’s poetry is clean, sparse and in places deceptively simple. It may be my yearning for the archive, but I would have liked to have known a little more about the photos. Even so, it is well worth it to stop off in the hollow of this hand.

[Cristhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empecemos con el hecho de que es una edición hermosa de Sexto Piso (impresa en Italia con papel certificado por la FSC y diseñada originalmente en inglés por Lizzie B, siendo duplicada en su totalidad sin faltar a un solo detalle) bilingüe. Es decir, en una página tenemos el poema original tal como está en la edición en inglés y del otro lado tenemos la traducción (fiel, con pocas libertades, respetando la idea original) del mismo al español, justo como en Canción de la bolsa para el mareo de Nick Cave, por la misma editorial. (5/5)

Ahora, lo escrito por P.J. Harvey.

Los poemas son buenos, destacando varios de ellos. El problema es que they just bring me down. No es culpa de ella para nada, ya que los poemas son narrativos de situaciones que presenció en Kosovo, Afganistán y Washington D.C.

Some fucked up shit. Seriously, como en el de Charikar en el cual describe a un grupo de niños golpeando a unos perros. Why? Just. Fucking. Because.

El tema principal es The Hollow of the Hand, que hace referencia a la mano del mendigo que se alarga pidiendo dinero, ayuda, generalmente formando un vacío con su mano que espera que alguien llene. Atta girl. (4/5)

Terminamos con el otro componente del libro: Las fotos de Seamus Murphy.

Yisuscraist. Incluso si no tuviese los poemas de P.J., hubiera comprado el libro solo por estas (de hecho, kinda así fue, abrí el libro para darle una hojeada antes de decidirme y lo primero que me salió fue una foto de un caballo muerto a media calle en Kosovo) transmiten algo que no sé cómo describir. (5/5)

Promedio del libro: 4.6/5

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did, as I am a big fan of P.J. Harvey's music. The concept is fantastic - Harvey and photographer Seamus Murphy traveled together to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington DC and each chronicled the experience, Murphy through photos and Harvey through poems.

The photos, collectively, are powerful and Murphy's obvious talent and vision shines. He captures the spirit of the travels. I would have liked a bit more context for his photos, though, and the layout was weird. Some photos cross the centerfold while others are on bound pages but don't cross the bumper, and it isn't a very effective display. He also uses a blurry technique a bit too many times.

This is Harvey's first collection of poetry, and while some of them were great, a lot of them remind me (literally) of a high school writing assignment. I would be interested in reading more of her poetry written without the constraints around this particular book.

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro interesante, ya que los poemas de PJ Harvey y las fotografías de Seamus Murphy se complementan para retratar 3 lugares muy distintos: una villa desolada por la guerra en Kosovo, los alrededores de una base en Afganistán y un recorrido por lugares emblemáticos de Washington, en Estados Unidos.

Quienes escucharon “Let's England Shake” notarán que PJ Harvey retoma aquí los temas antibelicistas, además que varios de los poemas aquí recogidos fueron musicalizados en su último álbum, “The Hope Six Demolition Project” .

[Ciska · Rating 5 out of 5]

I occasionally read poems and was very interested in this book where photography was combined with poems.
P.J. Harvey came to a literature festival in Utrecht and read from this collection. It was mesmerizing to listen to her.
There are some really difficult subjects touched in this collection but the poems are accessible. It is interesting to analyze a picture yourself and after read a poem about it which gives you other views on the picture.