“i’m not here to be your example of the good girl

until i’m your warning sign for the wayward one”

To all my fellow fans of poetry and prose, if you haven’t added When You Ask Me Where I’m Going by Jasmin Kaur to your TBR yet, please do so right now!

This book is absolutely beautiful. I finished it over a week ago but haven’t been able to write a review yet because how do you even begin to describe a book packed full of so much emotion?

I always have a difficult time reviewing books I loved, because all I want to do is scream “THIS BOOK WAS SO INCREDIBLE, IT MADE ME CRY AND STOP AND THINK ABOUT MYSELF AND THE WORLD, AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ IT RIGHT NOW!!” If you don’t have enough time to read my full review, I fully stand by this single, all-caps line.

In all seriousness though, When You Ask Me Where I’m Going is a stunning debut book. It uses poetry, prose, and illustrations to speak about topics of feminism, identity, love, race, ethnicity, motherhood, and more. It’s rare to see such difficult topics written about so eloquently. The language Jasmin uses is simple, yet packs a punch that will cause you to stop and reflect on yourself, your community, and society as whole.

The book is divided into six sections, all named after parts of one’s body/self: skin, muscle, lung, nerve, heart, and light. Each section explores different topics, and ties everything up before moving on to the next part. It’s a nice way of breaking the book up, and allows for breaks in reading if you need it.

SCREAM

so that one day

a hundred years from now

another sister will not have to

dry her tears wondering

where in history

she lost her voice

The theme that stood out the most to me from this book was that of identity. In When You Ask Me Where I’m Going, Jasmin writes at length about her own personal experiences, and those that people within her community have gone through as well. It’s very personal, and will let you stop and reflect on how others are treated, and how it may differ from your own experiences.

I’d recommend this book to any woman looking for something to read (since it deals with so many issues and topics we frequently experience), as well as fans of Rupi Kaur. The writing style and tone is similar to Rupi’s poetry, although Jasmin clearly displays her own unique voice in her writing.

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and HCC Frenzy for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. When You Ask Me Where I’m Going was released on October 1, 2019, and is available wherever books are sold.