PositiveThe Washington PostWhile the book feels a bit parochial because it never leaves Yale’s campus, Perkins has delivered an engaging and surprising story that illustrates the challenges college women have confronted across the country. Her narrative made this recent college grad feel grateful to the women who came before her ... Perkins offers intriguing insights into the stories of Yale’s female students ... Her book invites other schools and scholars to recognize the pioneering women of their own institutions.
Tracy K Smith
RaveThe AtlanticWade, published in April, reads like a book a laureate should write; these are poems that draw on weighty subjects and hinge on ideas of belonging. From the United States’ dark chapters of slavery to present-day acts of racial violence, Smith’s pieces consistently match the largeness of their content. Hers are poems that insist on compassion and love—poems of many voices and places across America ... In Wade, Smith invites her readers to see America, and the world around them, via the eyes of a generous and attentive observer ... Though Smith’s work contains multitudes, she ultimately fixates on the notion of national identity in Wade ... Smith is this country’s poetic caretaker, calling both for collective reckoning and collective empathy.
