It Begins with the Body

by Hana Shafi

It Begins With The Body by Hana Shafi explores the milestones and hurdles of a brown girl coming into her own. Shafi's poems display a raw and frank intimacy and address anxiety, unemployment, heartbreak, relationships, identity, and faith.

Accompanied by Shafi's candid illustrations that share the same delightful mixture of grotesque and humour found in her poems, It Begins With The Body navigates the highs and lows of youth. It is about feeling like an outsider, and reconciling with pain and awkwardness. It's about arguing with your mum about wanting to wax off your unibrow to the first time you threw up in a bar in your twenties, and everything in between. Funny and raw, personal and honest, Shafi's exciting debut is about finding the right words you wished you had found when you needed them the most.

Genres: Poetry, Canada, Nonfiction

96 pages, ebook

First published September 10, 2018

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

they drink whisky
little chunks of
empty filling up in
the arms of Canadian
women Canadian
boys
like to say
"multicultural" but fear
brown girls."

I wish I had a book like this while I was in high school.

Some favourites:
- Romantic Comedies with a Strong Female Lead
- Esteemed
- Severe Women
- Blue Jeans
- Sad N' Ugly
- Platform 24
- Wear with Style what kills you
- The Friend Breakup
- Vanilla
- Ritual

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely fantastic; one of the best poetry collections I have read in a while. The poems were so beautifully crafted and thought out, and the illustrations were both beautiful and disturbing. I love this type of modern poetry the best; longer poems that tell a complete story while still leaving a lot open to your own interpretations.

Some of my favourite poems:
- fences he built
- severe women
- 10-year reunion
- linoleum
- what am i supposed to do with all this stuff?
- the friend breakup
- a wage debate
- bad brown girl
- jinn

[Izza · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars |

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first poetry collection I've ever read (at least since I was in elementary school) and I liked it a whole lot! I'm super pleased that it's by a female Canadian author too. :)

Hana and I have some things in common (such as having similar insecurities about ourselves) and some things not in common (such as our differing faiths), so I related to some of her poems a lot more than others. I can completely appreciate all of them though, for one reason or another, and I greatly admire Hana for being so brave in her willingness to share so much of herself with us readers.

My favourite poems from this collection were either due to the creative and clever wordplay, metaphors, or imagery used by Hana, my relating, understanding, or sympathizing with the intended message/meaning behind them, or both.

Favourites:
-Severe Woman
-Blue Jeans
-ENFP
-Avocado Toast
-Toronto is Too Expensive
-Good Daughter
-A Face to Pray to
-How I Learned to Forgive and Keep Living
-Ritual
-A Truth of Mine

Also I couldn't not mention the wonderfully weird and quirky illustrations that Hana did to accompany almost all of her poems. They are certainly unforgettable, in a good way! ;P I'll admit, they took me a little getting used to at first, but now, having finished reading the entire collection, I can't imagine them not being there. They add a lot of personality, that's for sure!

Overall, I'm super glad I decided to finally try poetry and I'm definitely going to be reading some more collections in the near future! <3

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I really liked about this collection of poems and illustrations is that the drawings do as much work as the words in this collection. The collection explores the body, growing up, race and religion, but it never feels heavy handed. The poems, as well as the drawings are darkly funny and vulnerable. A great collection!

[Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may not have been the audience for this collection. Overall I liked this book, but certain things about it were not meant for me as a reader. Now since poetry can't really be 'spoiled' unless you read it and form your own opinion I'll say my review is spoiler-free. That being said this won't make much sense unless you read this book so fair warning...

Let's start with what I loved - Everything up to chapter 5 (especially Severe Women and The Friend Breakup) - honestly purchasing this book is worth it for those two poems alone (at least in my opinion). But I will say that from Chapter 5 up to Ritual in Chapter 7, I struggled big time. In all honesty I hate... no... I loath traditional poetry. Think what you want but the nitpickey wordchoices and try-hard aura really grinds my literary gears *insert cry-laugh emoji* and this collection of poems is definitely more traditionally written but has modern topics. Which is wonderful and all - if this type of poetry is your cup of tea.

Another reason I decided to give a lower than four star rating was because I didnt feel as connected to a lot of the topics - of course Im not a "brown girl" as described so I did a lot of googling as I read, which is totally fine. Its the faith parts that really disconnected me from the reading. after such a great start to the book placing religion at the end just made it hard for me to stay connected. But eventhough I didn't feel emotionally connected to everything from the art to the words I can see how this collection would and is important to so many other readers. And i will say that the last two poems really gave me those good vibes the earlier ones did.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Begins with the Body is a really great poetry and illustration collection, and my first experience with Hana Shafi's work. Her writing style is so engaging, it just pulls me in. It's exactly to my taste, honestly. I remember seeing it at the book store earlier this year and being drawn to the cover (how could I not be), but being too broke for just about any volume of poetry. I realised the public library had a copy. It's the kind of book I could connect with even when she was talking about things outside of my experiences.

My favourite illustrations were Enjoy Your Latte, Economics 101, and the one featured on the cover. My favourite poems were Severe Women, The Friend Breakup, Vanilla, Avocado Toast, Bad Brown Girl, Jinn, and Ritual.

[Ameema S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am SO excited to read this book!

Hana's art is absolutely incredible, and poignant - her illustrations are always relateable, and feel so real - and her poetry resonates with me so much. It's amazing to see such an incredible, talented, and expressive artist publish her first book - I absolutely cannot wait to dig in!

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear modern publishing world: This is the type of novice poetry I want to see, not Pillow Thoughts or Mind Platter. More of the stuff that digs deeper and uglier, please? Shafi's writing still has plenty of maturing to do, but she is tackling harder topics and saying important things already with her art and words.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love illustrated poetry collections and this is hands down the most wonderful I've read in a long, long time. The drawings never feel superfluous to the poems, and instead the words and images work together to render this wickedly smart, funny and honest collection.

[Grapes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might just be not brutally honest enough with myself for this; Shafi's humorous hurt and honest anecdotes made me flinch and smile and internally weep. Everyone's journey to self acceptance is different, and this, in a way, opened my eyes to that. Definitely a decent fast read.

[Indigo Wayworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I'm still really processing this, so my review might change.
All in all, I loved it.

Review to come

[Diwali L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so wish I had this book growing up. Thank you Hana for writing something that my kids will grow up with.

[Marija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking. I could feel all the emotions in every poem. Highly recommend.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Hana Shafi's voice is so clear and honest. Hilarious at times, but also heartbreaking, and above all, real.

[Manahil Bandukwala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, relatable, and the art in it is amazing!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "the friend breakup" and "avocado toast".

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

For when you want to know what it feels like to be an outsider and enjoy rad illustrations

[Danny Mclaren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hana is brilliant. I’ve heard her speak and read from this collection, and the words are just as compelling, if not more so, in person. Beautiful, hard-hitting collection.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hana's poetry is wonderful. If you've read or are familiar with Rupi Kaur I imagine she'll remind you of Kaur's work. Hana skews a bit weirder. However Hana's poetry I think might be more universal, if you've ever felt weird or out of place, Hana makes you feel not so alone. Her story may not line up with yours but there is a truth in her work that can inspire many.

This is her first book so there is room for growth. But I won't be surprised if she has a long career ahead of her.
I'm happily going to place her book on my poetry shelf with Millay and Frost.

[Jennie Chantal]

DNF at 50%
I’m not the audience for this book and the writing style wasn’t for me. I recognize there is a large audience for this book and see it’s importance and value.

[OK · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a delight listening to Hana Shafi read from this book at Growing Room. She has brilliant timing and delivery. I wish this collection was an audiobook!