while they sleep

by Raquel Salas Rivera

while they sleep (under the bed is another country) refuses to sweep up the shards of Hurricane María’s aftermath. Written in dialogic fragments and intersped with prose poems reflecting on the lasting impact of colonial trauma, it is arranged around the two different discourses. The bed on which America sleeps, and which America has made, is built on the fear that the nations it has oppressed will rise up against it, a monstrous shadow in a child’s nightmare. Written in English, while they sleep points to a imperialist American identity: the dormant body of the text. Answering in Spanish, under the bed is another country is the footnote, the monster under the bed, the colony: Puerto Rico.

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook, Queer, LGBT

Unknown Binding

First published July 23, 2019

Reviews

[Jared Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raquel captures the crisis in Puerto Rico post hurricane with such great urgency. Conceptually, and politically, this one of the best books to come out this year. The juxtaposition of the spanish text under the english text, not as a mirror or translation, is greatly compelling to me. Where the English text often feels vague and toeing around the crisis, the Spanish feels more acutely enumerated with strife. The book itself isn’t divided into to poems, per se, but the pages are mostly left fairly sparse. Where Raquel shines as a poet the most, are the more dense, page long passages—sparsely scattered throughout the book.

[Ana Julia]

ah, me gustó mucho.
Lo que más me llamó la atención es cómo el libro funciona en dos niveles que se establecen desde la imagen de portada cuando distingue a quienes duermen de los que estan debajo de la cama.
Cada poema es dos textos a la vez, el principal y el pie de página; tiene dos idiomas, el inglés y el español, y me atrevo a asomar que propone dos lectores: el puertoriqueño que puede acceder a la totalidad del libro, y el extranjero que no, especialmente el gringo.
Además de todo esto, me gusta mucho cómo la autora cuenta su experiencia con el huracán Maria sin demasiada anécdota, pero sin dejar tampoco nada por fuera.

[Ross Williamson]

this was like. mostly in spanish which i don’t know so i don’t feel comfortable rating it but the parts i understood were good!!

[Carla Sofia Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read anything like this. Salas Rivera is changing the game- the use of footnotes as structure/form and setting up the narratives of bilingualism against translation are so talented and thoughtful. Grateful for their vision.

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming across this book was serendipitous. I borrowed the audiobook from the library without really knowing what it was about. I found myself sucked back to those nightmarish months in 2017 as my country endured the aftermath of Hurricane María. Told in bilingual snippets and interspersed with a handful of narrative poem, Salas Rivera has managed to capture the collective feelings of a nation in despair.

I bought the Kindle version of the book to read along, I bought the audiobook version to keep forever. I highly encourage Puerto Ricans and those familiar with Puerto Rican Spanish to read along as they listen to the audiobook. The experience in nonpareil.

I also ordered a physical copy because I want to have that reading experience as well.

[Bek (MoonyReadsByStarlight) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a poetry audiobook to listen to while I cleaned and happened to har about this author. Without looking into it much, I played it -- and I wound up stopping what I was doing just to listen to it! (I almost always need to multitask in order to listen to audiobooks!). This was beautiful and heartwrenching. I will definitely be looking into more of their poetry collections!

I will say, my Spanish is... more than rusty, so I really was mostly just able to understand the parts in English -- but that was more than enough to give it five stars.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raquel was attempting to make a point by doing her essays in English and Spanish. As though Puerto Rico wasn’t treated fairly during the hurricane. Ask any city, no city is ever the same again. 😔. The points she is losing is not having a translation version. Maybe the first half of the book hit home in the English/ Spanish version. The second half can be all English. I feel I missed out on what could have been a great book.

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a stunning work that truly seeks to unravel expectation and to disorient the unflinchingly colonialist and imperialist thoughts that are at work in any of our readerly expectations.

[peenit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad and very moving I don’t want to talk about it

[Harmony Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this in audio, read by the author, and it is particularly moving in that format. I can feel the emotion in the author's voice and words. I highly recommend this poetry collection.

[Alejandra Carrillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué profundo y maravilloso escribe Raquel Salas sobre el dolor, y lo innombrable de un conflicto internacional complejísimo y bilingüe. La confusión del desastre, el terror de la incertidumbre, pero también los afectos que quedan cuando todo eso parece perdido, son golpes duros de llevar a lo largo de la lectura que también cruza referencias y sentimientos alrededor de un desastre natural que luego también se convirtió en un desastre resultado de un proceso colonialista despiadado.

[Mariela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely captures the crisis.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read something that would move me. Of course, considering the fact that this was a poetry book this was very easy to achieve. Although poetry is sometimes subjective to the reader’s point of view, I felt as though I could almost completely understand what the author was trying to express. Beautiful figurative language, amazing emotion expressed. I felt moved by this collection. I would one-hundred percent recommend this book to anyone especially the Hispanic community, keeping in mind all the topics explored such as the power that America has over smaller countries. I really loved this experience, it is safe to say this became one of my favorite books.

[Nikita Ladd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Day 26 of the Sealey Challenge: This was an interesting read, because the form was so different than any other collection I read this month. Most pages have only a word or phrase on it, and then there's a footnote to a word or phrase in Spanish. I'm not bilingual, so I definitely wasn't the target audience for this collection - which was highlighted also by the longer prosier poems that touched on translation as a concept. I was very moved by some of what I read, but also some of it was literally illegible to me (no matter how much of it I looked up to translate).

[Alyse Knorr · Rating 5 out of 5]

“rage as a passive form of mourning/mourning as an active form of rage,” Raquel Salas Rivera writes in this powerful and incredibly important book that gives voice to all the terror and tragedy of U.S. imperialism over Puerto Rico. This book should be taught in any and every class.

[Liliana López · Rating 5 out of 5]

The publisher's blurb does such a good job of describing this book (truly!) that I will leave it up to you to read it. I am here to say: this is perhaps the most brilliant and innovative use of bilingualism I have ever seen in the written word. Breathtaking, heartbreaking, and utterly unique.

[Frank Karioris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am even more now excited to see them read on Friday. So much to work through here.

[Dana Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

My God — breathtaking, spare, full. Unlike anything I’ve read before. Upsetting. Brilliant. True.

[Apple]

Vente pacá, que te doy comida y albergue mientras la tenga, que te añoño y te duplico los brazos.

[Moved to Library Thing adaorhell · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish we didn’t share citizenship to the land of hurricanes and cruelty.

[Pepe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I translated the footnotes for I don’t speak Spanish — the feelings are even stronger and more compelling. Very powerful, the form is beautiful & haunting.

[Adriana De Persia Colón · Rating 3 out of 5]

so much happening with such concise language. love it.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

to translate is to be the illegible witness of oneself.

[Alex (Iseultslibrary) · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Cheyenne Valade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very powerful use of white space. Raquel Salas Rivera is a master at saying more with less.

[literaryelise · Rating 5 out of 5]

“not a single blue tarp in heaven.”

[Hector Echavarria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in a sitting, enamoring

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible collection. My Spanish is...not great lol so I am mostly basing my understanding off the English portions--but the Spanish poems I could understand were fantastic as well.

[Littlebookterror]

1. The audiobook is a great way to experience this IF you speak Spanish.
2. I do not speak Spanish.
3. While I might have had a chance if could see the words on the page in front of me to translate, my auditory skills are rubbish.

I will leave this unrated because a good third of it, I literally did not understand. The English parts were great and I could really connect with the themes of grief and hurt.

[Val F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally see myself coming back to these poems in the future! Very moving