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MANEATER
MANEATER brings to life one woman’s pain through poetry — visceral and rage filled, every line is palpable; it feels like your own. In her third collection of poetry, Bub focuses on legitimizing survivors anger through her own story, while examining the everyday traumas of womanhood. Every woman serves as a home to a collection of wounds and scars unique to her, but there is a universal resonance to those carved there by man, by those who would choose to denigrate her insidiously, by those who have pushed her into the ugly truths of womanhood too soon, by those who’ve painted her in every shade of blue. MANEATER is the story of every daughter of Lilith wronged, screamed in her every voice. It echoes of Medusa, of Eve, of Persephone. It echoes of you. It echoes of me… you feel the wrath of one woman coming undone, of one become whole through using her power -- her voice. In using it so, she has found her vengeance. And there is a sort of sweetness to that in a world devoid of justice, isn’t there? It is a fire. A beacon. A light of hope for other women, for other survivors — to wield like weapon.
- GenresPoetry
172 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2021
About the author
Jean-Marie Bub
12 books20 followersJean-Marie Bub (she/her) is an artist, author, survivor and activist living in Harlem who is dedicated to raising hell with her truth. On both paper and canvas, she puts emphasis on reclaiming one's body after experiencing abuse and sexual trauma.
Her work is aimed to legitimize women's anger, while holding space for survivors to uncover the feelings that become buried in rushed healing processes. She examines the guttural pain of womanhood, trauma, relationships and loss.
Her work is aimed to legitimize women's anger, while holding space for survivors to uncover the feelings that become buried in rushed healing processes. She examines the guttural pain of womanhood, trauma, relationships and loss.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 6, 2021
MANEATER is not an easy book to read, but it is an important book to read, and every page had me swelling with power. Jean Marie Bub's writing is raw, guttural, and cuts to the core. She writes from her full truth, from her pain, trauma, and personal experience with sexual assault, abuse, and self harm. She also writes about what it's like to live as a woman in this world with stark accuracy:
"Womanhood can be summed up in one word – trauma. Woman will be harassed. Woman will be belittled. Woman will be grabbed. Woman will be scaled down to the meat on her bones. Woman might get murdered for saying no. We all know a woman who's been raped."
By spilling her vulnerability onto these pages, she takes her power back and gives readers the courage to find or take their own power. Drawing on the idea of Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus throughout the book, Bub reminds us of our resilience. That we are capable of living many lives, of doing the work enduring the pain of setting ourselves on fire to rebirth stronger.
What I especially love about MANEATER is that she wrote this book for other women's healing as much as for her own. Just by sharing her experience alone, she is reaching others who carry the weight of trauma from sexual abuse and assault. But Bubs also speaks directly to her reader in a way that makes them feel seen and understood. She offers resources and even a writing prompt list to help women heal from their trauma and find their voice and power through writing.
All in all, MANEATER is an incredibly empowering poetry collection that does not sacrifice craft for the passion and emotion fueling the poems – her prose poems are a GIFT. Highly recommend to anyone holding or healing from trauma, but also for anyone who may not have that shared experience but wants to understand and help a friend or loved one with their trauma.
"Womanhood can be summed up in one word – trauma. Woman will be harassed. Woman will be belittled. Woman will be grabbed. Woman will be scaled down to the meat on her bones. Woman might get murdered for saying no. We all know a woman who's been raped."
By spilling her vulnerability onto these pages, she takes her power back and gives readers the courage to find or take their own power. Drawing on the idea of Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus throughout the book, Bub reminds us of our resilience. That we are capable of living many lives, of doing the work enduring the pain of setting ourselves on fire to rebirth stronger.
What I especially love about MANEATER is that she wrote this book for other women's healing as much as for her own. Just by sharing her experience alone, she is reaching others who carry the weight of trauma from sexual abuse and assault. But Bubs also speaks directly to her reader in a way that makes them feel seen and understood. She offers resources and even a writing prompt list to help women heal from their trauma and find their voice and power through writing.
All in all, MANEATER is an incredibly empowering poetry collection that does not sacrifice craft for the passion and emotion fueling the poems – her prose poems are a GIFT. Highly recommend to anyone holding or healing from trauma, but also for anyone who may not have that shared experience but wants to understand and help a friend or loved one with their trauma.
February 26, 2021
This book is literally everything. I’ve related to a lot of the pieces. I’ve felt like that. It’s a very empowering and encouraging book for all woman who feel lost, hopeless and dead. The grief and struggle is evident with what she’s been through but seeing the rawness of her experience makes it relatable to say the least. It took me a bit to finish it because of the heaviness of it all but it’s definitely worth the read.
February 22, 2021
Honest.. Empowering!!!!
June 8, 2021
Such a phenomenal and hard hitting book. A book that I will return to for years to come
April 18, 2021
MANEATER by Jean-Marie Bub goes beyond being a collection of poetry and prose. It is art. It is a safe space. It is a tool for survivors and it is a voice in itself. A voice which loudly proclaims, despite the pain, ‘I am here and I intend to stay.’
Bub treats her work and activism with an admirable duty of care. From the opening author’s note warning any reader to pace and look after themselves, to the workbook elements of this collection, to the prompts and the helplines and organisations listed at the end. Thus, although the subject material is heavy, raw and visceral, Bub is intent on cradling her reader throughout, and she undoubtedly achieves this.
Often, I treat books as objects to be kept in the condition you bought them, but one third into reading MANEATER I realised this is a collection to treasure by making it yours. I have dog-eared multiple pages and located my trauma and hope within, then heard it spoken with indomitable power:
“And when the earth finally spits you out I hope it leaves you fucking raw, intestines wrapped around neck, like a cat that’s been declawed.”
[This Is My Hex For You]
to:
“I am changing. I am trying - the rising sun as my witness.”
Bub’s words embody an impenetrable sharpness and softness. She reveals the dichotomy of survival - wishing to live in star bright fullness yet always planning an escape.
The artwork and photography throughout is superb, showcasing Bub’s talent, creativity and her ability to turn pain into something to be admired. Alongside poems like the Briseis acrostic and ‘Healed But Never Forgotten’, it is clear that Bub’s creations are to be respected and trusted.
MANEATER will, as Bub promises, awaken something within you and I wholeheartedly recommend you read it and see who you discover within.
Bub treats her work and activism with an admirable duty of care. From the opening author’s note warning any reader to pace and look after themselves, to the workbook elements of this collection, to the prompts and the helplines and organisations listed at the end. Thus, although the subject material is heavy, raw and visceral, Bub is intent on cradling her reader throughout, and she undoubtedly achieves this.
Often, I treat books as objects to be kept in the condition you bought them, but one third into reading MANEATER I realised this is a collection to treasure by making it yours. I have dog-eared multiple pages and located my trauma and hope within, then heard it spoken with indomitable power:
“And when the earth finally spits you out I hope it leaves you fucking raw, intestines wrapped around neck, like a cat that’s been declawed.”
[This Is My Hex For You]
to:
“I am changing. I am trying - the rising sun as my witness.”
Bub’s words embody an impenetrable sharpness and softness. She reveals the dichotomy of survival - wishing to live in star bright fullness yet always planning an escape.
The artwork and photography throughout is superb, showcasing Bub’s talent, creativity and her ability to turn pain into something to be admired. Alongside poems like the Briseis acrostic and ‘Healed But Never Forgotten’, it is clear that Bub’s creations are to be respected and trusted.
MANEATER will, as Bub promises, awaken something within you and I wholeheartedly recommend you read it and see who you discover within.
January 4, 2022
Jean Marie Bub’s MANEATER is not for the faint gaslighting flickers who prey in the dark. Bub has channeled the pain in her life, reborn a Lady Lazarus Medusa who is a heroine on the page poems like Maneater. This verse is a call to arms to those who have been shattered can feel sparks of resurrections as Bub writes “And the MANEATER lives in you. // It’s about time/you wake her.”
Jean Marie creates art in each poem, and each stanza is her stunning canvas. The ‘haunting lingers” and her fiery verses unapologetically reach out take bites out of the monsters who lurk in shadows “claiming to fix broken girls.” She leaves them all stunned in such pieces as “THIS IS MY HEX FOR YOU.” Be afraid “bastard rat(s)” and Pavlov Dog’s she devours, when Bub writes: “By ending this cycle with you, I end their suffering too. And this is exactly why/ I devour men like you”
MANEATER is a mesmerizing poetry collection that more than stays with you, her poems seethes and smolders whole infiltrating your consciousness and you will be haunted or rejuvenated by her captivating poems. Many will find empowering familiarity in Bub’s transforming poems. Poems like “I SHED MY SKIN/ LIKE THE SERPANT” encouraging her readers to ‘shatter the old versions of themselves’ when Jean Marie writes “I molt out of who I Was/yesterday, and/today/ I am born anew” By the end of MANEATER, when Bub writes “It is me who holds the power,” you can feel her reinvigoration mantra reflecting in every shattered scar resurrecting you.
Jean Marie creates art in each poem, and each stanza is her stunning canvas. The ‘haunting lingers” and her fiery verses unapologetically reach out take bites out of the monsters who lurk in shadows “claiming to fix broken girls.” She leaves them all stunned in such pieces as “THIS IS MY HEX FOR YOU.” Be afraid “bastard rat(s)” and Pavlov Dog’s she devours, when Bub writes: “By ending this cycle with you, I end their suffering too. And this is exactly why/ I devour men like you”
MANEATER is a mesmerizing poetry collection that more than stays with you, her poems seethes and smolders whole infiltrating your consciousness and you will be haunted or rejuvenated by her captivating poems. Many will find empowering familiarity in Bub’s transforming poems. Poems like “I SHED MY SKIN/ LIKE THE SERPANT” encouraging her readers to ‘shatter the old versions of themselves’ when Jean Marie writes “I molt out of who I Was/yesterday, and/today/ I am born anew” By the end of MANEATER, when Bub writes “It is me who holds the power,” you can feel her reinvigoration mantra reflecting in every shattered scar resurrecting you.
August 31, 2022
“I wanted
you to
unearth me.
i wanted you
to pick the weeds
from my garden, to
reap the rewards of my
harvest, to keep coming back
for when i bloomed, but instead,
you wrecked me.”
Just one of the few of my favorite poems from Maneater. This book is a ride, like a real ride where you go from heartbreak to pain to lust to love. I’m still physically and emotionally processing all that I’ve read, and that to me is a good thing because who doesn’t want a book that turns their world upside down and around?
I recommend this book to anyone who has a lust for vengeance, power and affirmation to your own rage and hurt. These poems are what female rage and anger looks like and not being afraid to expose the most grueling parts of you no matter how unpleasant.
Make sure to check all TWs for the book and to also read the introduction by the author.
you to
unearth me.
i wanted you
to pick the weeds
from my garden, to
reap the rewards of my
harvest, to keep coming back
for when i bloomed, but instead,
you wrecked me.”
Just one of the few of my favorite poems from Maneater. This book is a ride, like a real ride where you go from heartbreak to pain to lust to love. I’m still physically and emotionally processing all that I’ve read, and that to me is a good thing because who doesn’t want a book that turns their world upside down and around?
I recommend this book to anyone who has a lust for vengeance, power and affirmation to your own rage and hurt. These poems are what female rage and anger looks like and not being afraid to expose the most grueling parts of you no matter how unpleasant.
Make sure to check all TWs for the book and to also read the introduction by the author.
Read
September 30, 2021MANEATER is both warcry and vulnerability. Known and unknowable. Beauty and destruction. MANEATER asks women everywhere to gather their shame, their trauma, and light it on fire in front of the men that gave it to them. This is unlike anything I’ve read before — illuminating the pain of growing up a woman, validating anyone that’s known that particular brand of hurt. There are photographs. Long poems. Short poems. Affirmations. Visual art pieces. Screenshots. Writing prompts. MANEATER has it all.
December 13, 2021
MANEATER is a whole world of poems that Jean has crafted for releasing anger and hurt, for sharing the realities that women face, holding space for vulnerability and honoring the ugliness that is healing. I cannot recommend this book enough to EVERYONE. I have been anticipating this book and celebrating the author for her relentless vision in releasing MANEATER and its message for survivors. I will revisit this book often and I can already see myself having a small stock to share with friends and others; again, such an important book!
May 30, 2021
So this book took a little time to get through, because it is rough. This is the book I wish I had after my sexual assault. It was so much I needed to hear and read that I wish this book existed years ago. It is incredibly raw and I urge everyone to read it at their own pace and to practice self care. I read it slowly, this poems truly touch something in you. They made me feel so many different emotions I can’t begin to describe.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews