Listen free for 30 days
-
The Carrying
- Narrated by: Ada Limón
- Length: 1 hr and 39 mins
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for £6.49
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
“Ada Limón’s new collection is her best yet, a much needed shot of if not hope, then perseverance amidst much uncertainty.” (NPR)
From National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Ada Limón comes The Carrying - her most powerful collection yet. Vulnerable, tender, acute, these are serious and brave poems, exploring with honesty the ambiguous moment between the rapture of youth and the grace of acceptance. A daughter tends to aging parents. A woman struggles with infertility - “What if, instead of carrying / a child, I am supposed to carry grief?” - and a body seized by pain and vertigo as well as ecstasy. A nation convulses: “Every song of this country / has an unsung third stanza, something brutal.” And still Limón shows us, as ever, the persistence of hunger, love, and joy, the dizzying fullness of our too-short lives. “Fine then, / I’ll take it,” she writes. “I’ll take it all.”
Praise for The Carrying
“Ada Limón is one of the country’s finest poets.” (Shelf Awareness)
“The Carrying is one of Ada Limón’s best. Even in poems about racism, misogyny, violence, and the darkness that often accompanies life, Limón’s resiliency shines through.” (Bitch Media)
“The Carrying is dazzling, precise, transformative and deeply humane. Ada Limón is an American treasure.” (Jami Attenberg)
“In these poems, joy and longing and grief sing with a music that - regardless of what I am burdened or blessed to carry - makes me want to live passionately and fully in the difficult world. The Carrying is a gift.” (Natasha Trethewey)
Critic reviews
“Exquisite poems about love, fertility, desire, this natural world we move through, the political climate, so much more.” (Roxane Gay, Goodreads)
“Don’t miss this life-affirming collection.” (Library Journal, starred review)
“Gorgeous, thought-provoking... This fearless collections shows a poet that can appreciate life’s surprises.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about The Carrying
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 15-05-19
Jaw-droppingly honest, touching, and approachable!
Several times throughout her readings I pause to breathe before the next poem. This collection has revived my love for the poetic form, and it has inspired me to be more confident w my own writing.
I aspire for this level of honesty.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kaylen Nique
- 10-07-19
love
love. just finished and am starting again at one. grateful to have Ada leading the way.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nathan
- 28-01-21
Accessible, captivating listen
I love listening to authors read their own poetry especially when their voice matches the rhythm of the poems. Ada's narration is soothing and I feep like I could listen all day. I often have a hard time reading poetry myself and getting the rhythm right. I 1st heard an Ada Limon poem read by Tracy K. Smith and knew that I had to listen to more. It was great getting to hear the author read her poems in her voice. Her themes relate to every day life. Interestingly, even her themes that were female-centric were inviting, to me a man, and opened an intimate view from an angle I had not understood or felt in the same way before.