I Become a Delight to My Enemies

by Sara Peters

Dark, cutting, and coursed through with bright flashes of humour, crystalline imagery, and razor-sharp detail, I Become a Delight to My Enemies is a gut-wrenchingly powerful, breathtakingly beautiful meditation on the violence and shame inflicted on the female body and psyche.

An experimental fiction, I Become a Delight to My Enemies uses many different voices and forms to tell the stories of the women who live in an uncanny Town, uncovering their experiences of shame, fear, cruelty, and transcendence. Sara Peters combines poetry and short prose vignettes to create a singular, unflinching portrait of a Town in which the lives of girls and women are shaped by the brutality meted upon them and by their acts of defiance and yearning towards places of safety and belonging. Through lucid detail, sparkling imagery and illumination, Peters' individual characters and the collective of The Town leap vividly, fully formed off the page. A hybrid in form, I Become a Delight to My Enemies is an awe-inspiring example of the exquisite force of words to shock and to move, from a writer of exceptional talent and potential.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Canada, Read For School, Feminism, Contemporary, Novella

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2019

About the author

Sara Peters was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1982. She completed an MFA at Boston University, and was a Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University from 2010 to 2012. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Daily, The Threepenny Review, and The Walrus. She lives in Toronto.

1996 was her first book.

Reviews

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's 2019: every day I am reminded of the thousands of ways in which being a woman is a rage- and terror-inducing, frustratingly impotent shitfest. Why would you need to cloak those feelings, those facts, in convoluted metaphor? It just doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't work for me.

Occasional flashes of humor, and a few of the more sharply specific pieces, save this novel-in-stories/poetry collection from being a total failure for me.

But maybe I should just stop trying to read experimental fiction. And instead build a separatist feminist collective on the moon.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an experimental text made up of a series of poetic segments, each narrating the voice of a different women from a place called Town. It is a distinct, brutal and achingly beautiful chorus. The women delve into friendship, rape, subjugation, objectification, motherhood, love, erotic desire, incest, and murder. There are moments of unexpected transcendence when a girl will describe her body or her mother. And there are others which are transgressive and jolt the reader’s consciousness awake, allowing them to turn the page and confront an epiphany with their barriers down. It is a complicated, brave work of art.

[b · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of elliptical play here to get to the complex heart(s) of the matter. Some of the collection is formalist exercise (eg: the abecedarius of “never not”), but what is strongest about the collection is that it’s this extended meditation on a conceptual world and its gentle recurring cast and settings and polyphonous latitude adds up to something menacing and really felt. Really strong long-poem (if we’ve got to call it something). I think maybe redundant in stretches, and, well, could’ve been a lot leaner, but am grateful for its excess too. Hard to come to a hard stance on it, but maybe once I’ve had more time to digest it and let things settle I’ll be able to.

Maybe my big concern is how one voice (aka the author) can claim authority to sooo many experiences, but in this oneiric elliptical space it feels less like it should be connected to authority, and more like a simulation of how many terrible things can happen while their many victims endure, detached almost, clinical? Poetry is kind of clinical. Great writing throughout, but still sometimes a little too poetic instead of discursive and direct. Still, it’s such a strong book. I think it’s worth reading.

“We were followed by a melancholy choir of spectral / admirers, but we learned to ignore them.../ Being female, / we had been taught to wonder when we would break off / into factions and assemble against each other. We waited / for the lies and betrayals to begin, and when they did not / we knew that, in this way, we had defeated the gunman.”

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so good in a brutal, sometimes cathartic, way. I feel I could listen multiple times and catch something new every time.

I wouldn't recommend if you're in a fragile place since there's rape, incest, violence, etc.

[Zish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cathartic, but not for the faint of heart. Many triggers! Highly recommend, but please tread lightly. A lot of hard narratives about women’s bodies and how they are treated. Overall, beautiful and powerful experimental prose.

[nicole 240 · Rating 2 out of 5]

super powerful and deserves to be read but was too harsh for me rn

[Salem ☥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

while i understand the narration was done with purpose, the messiness and constant switching of voices made it hard to follow along. (3.5 rounded down)

[MargaretDH · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting combination of prose and poetry. Peters uses multiple voices and styles in a series of vignettes to paint a picture of women in a small town, and the ways in which they are oppressed and empowered throughout their lives.

This is experimental, and the threads can be difficult to untangle. Many of the voices refer to things obliquely, or only allude to what we might consider the heart of the story. I liked it, but it's a challenging piece of work that needs a reader with an open mind.

I listened to the audiobook version, which is beautifully produced. There are multiple voice actors, and the production includes more than just the words. It's an atmospheric work, and I found the audiobook highlighted and underscored that aspect. Definitely consider this format if you want to pick this up.

[Justin Timbol · Rating 4 out of 5]

“So much awaits us / A tilted earth, a reddening sun / There is nowhere we cannot go / There is nothing we cannot become”

Ya ya ya ya ya

A ravishing collection of poetry and prose. A story strengthened by its cross-genre structure. Love

[Jennifer]

Not exactly for me, but....

If you love poetry or really enjoyed House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, you may be interested in this book that uses the metaphor of a “Town” to tell a variety of stories about agressions against women. Definitely timely!

[Ellen Chang-Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a panel interview hosted by Nina Drystek at Ottawa Writers Festival 2019, Sara Peters was asked what inspired her to write I Become a Delight to My Enemies. She said, "...you know, I read somewhere that [caribou] will run and run and run and run until their hooves wear down...even then they will continue to run until they are bleeding and raw. I thought of us women...and decided to write this novel...yes, it's a novel." A visceral work of experimental fiction, I Become a Delight to My Enemies is a must-read of 2019-2020.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is such an incredible work. it is bonkers and vile but jaw dropping.

peter’s “town” is executed so skillfully, and she touches on how it feels to live in a feminine body being ripped to shreds in multiple different ways, repeatedly, in a way that touches feelings and ideas i’ve never been able to articulate. her prose is so so so good. i can’t get over it.

this is both a miserable but cathartic read. i see the comparisons to women talking by miriam toews, but peters goes through the body in a way that toews didn’t - women talking was very cerebral. this is deeply embodied and feeling and very in place.

[Lexie]

😕 I don't read enough poetry to fully appreciate and grasp everything that's going on, here, I don't think. A lot went over my head, and I didn't spend enough time lingering. Some of the images in this book were breathtaking. The characters were complex. I was intrigued by the world building, when it was there. But I wanted more information. More plot, instead of hints and sporadic images. Maybe that's why I didn't stop and analyze as much; I kept waiting for everything to come together in a more concrete way. This is technically a novel (or was advertised as such), so I'm a bit disappointed. But Sara Peters did leave me with some lovely and horrifying images.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of genius; a triumph in melding forms. Part Greek tragedy, part Orwell's 1984, part lived experience of almost every woman in the world, IBADTME pulls us into the Town, a place that seems almost normal on the surface, but has an ageless and violent secret roiling and rotting beneath the facade. A particular standout is Third State; read it and weep (literally). We don't deserve something this good and powerful and incisive and timely.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
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"Once I was faultlessly beautiful, and my life depended upon it. I groomed my trembling, long-legged animal. I felt great love, I felt great fear: either way to you, it hardly mattered."
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This book is a contemplative look at the brutality and misogyny against women and of their survival in a small town. Of the men who cause such violence, and of a powerful Chancellor and his horror's. The collapse of this town in a defiance for a better future.
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Peter's has done a beautiful job using different writing styles and voices to share this dark yet at times humorous tale. I really enjoyed this book! I read it in one sitting. Its slim but very dark and raw, it really packs a punch! I loved the mix of poetry and prose and all the vivid imagery. This author was new to me but I need to read more of her work. She's a very talented writer with so much potential.
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Thank you to the publisher for #gifting me this book.

[EK · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no doubt in my mind that Sara Peters is a brilliant writer. She puts situations and emotions into words in a way that totally connect with my inner being. There were too many beautiful lines in this book for me to even choose one to quote. I Become a Delight was narrated by several different women, and the reader was forced to fill in a lot of the blanks. This left me often lost in my own thoughts as I was reading, because it was hard for me to focus. Some of the characters felt so real while others were so abstract they could not have existed in the world we live in. I was often confused about the plot and the stoyrline as I stumbled along the beautiful words. Also, I found the side notes distracting and I never figured out what they were all about.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I Become a Delight to My Enemies is a highly experimental book of poetry that tracks the abuses and consequential self-hating behavior of different women in a made up Canadian town.

There is a lot going on here thematically and Peters' ability to convey those themes is skillful and laudable considering that there is basically no plot for the first half of the book.

I have a problem with how one sided the issues in I Become a Delight to My Enemies are. So much of what the reader experiences is emotionally driven, dependent on one dimensional facades of men, and dependent on a generic understanding of patriarchal society.

The book does a lot of things right, but equally does some things terribly wrong.

[Emelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I'm so glad I chose to listen to the audiobook. What an experience! The audio is creepy and unsettling, with breathing and singing in the background of the narration, which was done by several different narrators adding to the rich listening experience. The auditory layers reminded me of what A24 soundtracks sound like.

I'm not usually a poetry reader but this type of experimental loose fiction with poetic focus was so interesting. You follow different women and their experience living in a small town enduring abuse by the men around them. Was the "plot" obvious? No. This is an audio book I'll want to come back to and notice new things.

I feel like this book would be more difficult to grasp in physical form, and the audio production is just too cool.

[Care · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of my lack of enjoyment was my lack of understanding. I found it so hard to parse out meaning from these fragments. It left me wanting more substance, more information. It felt like just snippets of pretentious but biting poetry about sexual abuse and womanhood. For me, this is another failed experiment in experimental fiction because these themes of structural, systemic violence against women are too important to have their meaning and intention lost in convulted verse. We need to shed light on these issues, not cover it up with more cloaked meaning and implications.

Trigger warnings for rape, sexual abuse, incest.

[Chelsea Girard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sara Peters digs into our hearts and shows us the image of a little girl growing up without knowing if she will be treated fairly, loved or even shown respect. That little girl, is us.
Through different POV’s Peter’s gives this small town story a brutal beginning and an even more thoughtful end as you see images, poetry and follow the lives of the woman whose lives were upturned by men in the most horrific of ways.
You really have to dig deep into Peter’s mind to understand the story and really have an appreciation for such deep details and poetic views in order to love this book. I for one, fell in love.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a beautiful mess of a book: mixed up, throwing symbolism and imagery every which way, occasionalky making sense in a hazy way before smudging again.

One of those things you don't necessarily enjoy reading but you find yourself picking up again for another hit of semi-linked poetry-prose.

The whole feels greater than the sum of its parts, few of which really cut deep or sharply. But they accumulate against your mind and slowly work their way in until you get that experimental buzz of kind of liking it but confused and kind of annoyed that happens with so much experimental work.

[Jerome Ramcharitar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A provocative book of poetry with a great deal of textual complexity. “I Become A Delight to my Enemies” manages to drive home a nonlinear narrative with experiments in style, language, and setting, all the while retaining a sense of cohesion.

Reading the book is a rewarding and shocking experience.

I cannot think of another text so daring in its take on the nature of femininity — in all its vulnerability, pain, spirituality, and even immortality.

And speaking of immortality… my God, what an ending.

[Erin Kernohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I think I would be careful who I recommend it to. I think you will like this book if you like a mix of poetry and poetic prose, if you like letting abstract word pictures wash over you and filling in the gaps with your own imagination, and if you find hope in stories even if they are dark and brutal. There was something in this book that spoke to me but might not speak to everyone, and what parts of the books stuck with me will be different than what might stick with you. If it sounds intriguing to you, pick it up, give it a try, and put it down if it doesn’t work for you.

[Enid Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A devastating collection ‘documenting’ the brutal reality that is the lives of girls and women. I should have 'enjoyed' this more than I did.

Certainly I cared but I found the reading process disjointed and distracting. Perhaps it's in part because I was expecting to sit down and read a novel, while this placed different demands upon the reader... ones I was not in the right mental space to accept at that moment in time.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be honest, too heavy-handed for me personally. I respect what the author was doing, but it felt slightly like being whacked over the damn head with it. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I’m not mad at the “use of metaphor” to deal with the serious subject of violence against women. The: this is a book about violence against women do you see don’t you know? Quality of it was just, again, a bit heavy-handed for me. And thus I prefer Toni Murphy’s Double Teenage. Or Eden Robinson.

[Salty Swift · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the subject of this experimental novel/poetry collection/free-form vignette blast is admirable - sexual and physical violence endured by women in an imaginary Town, the form left me extremely cold. It's embarrassingly difficult to maneuver the sense and the gist of Sara Peters prose, when style and novelty take precedence over substance.

[Crystal Staley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A raw and beautiful collection of poetry and short prose pieces. Lyrical and uncomfortable, these works often portray the brutality and inescapable nature of assault on the female body and the loss of autonomy. At least that’s what I took away from it. I can’t say I totally got everything and I’m sure some things went over my head, but I enjoyed my time with these wonderfully dark works.

[Fendey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Something burned behind us-- not the Town-- and we were weary, bent necks topped with withered faces, our flesh in ghastly shambles."

Peters made a great narrative of challenging contemporary life, ranging from gender, to dating, to long-held narratives, forcing one to question gender roles in an ever-evolving society.

[FiftyShadesOfMarjor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic piece of work. The poetry often cuts deep as it reminds us, in several different ways, how women have been abused and lulled into silence for so many years. The vulnerability, pain, struggle, healing, and triumph explored in the book is a necessary, and at times gut wrenching, read.

[Tenisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the premise and the themes but the execution fell flat for me. I think I would love reading about this town in a more traditional narrative style. The metaphors and lack of detail left too many questions for me to really enjoy it fully.