However, it’s even more difficult for him to grant it, because I think to grant true forgiveness means releasing rage. It’s not easy for him to ask for forgiveness-in fact, he tries to earn it without really asking for it directly. But like any other act, the act of forgiveness is what we make of it.įor instance, I think Noor finds it very, very hard to forgive, especially when she feels like she is being told to forgive someone else, instead of being asked for forgiveness by someone. I think society likes to tell us that when we grant it, we are holy. From understanding your own characters, do you think it is more challenging to forgive or to ask for forgiveness?įorgiveness is a complex thing. Forgiveness is also an important motif within the novel. It is witnessed.” Beyond that, the book is what its readers make of it. I think it simply exists as a witnessing. I don’t know if All My Rage’s purpose is really to help anyone unless they want and need that. A lot of adults are angry at the world too. Teenagers certainly aren’t alone in that respect. How do you think All My Rage can help them with their rage?

Incorporating it was a way for me to chronicle that growth and change, and also to honour a poem that has meant so much to me and so many others.Ī post shared by Sabaa Tahir teenagers are often angry at the world. Its meaning has changed for me throughout my life, just as its meaning changes for the characters as they grow through ALL MY RAGE. Why did you decide to incorporate so much of it in All My Rage?Īs I’ve gotten older, I’ve come back to this poem again and again as a source of comfort and as a way to understand loss. I’m really grateful I got permission from the rights-holder to share that love in this book. It taught me a great deal about rewriting, but also gave me a lifelong love of the poem. I’d just been given “The Writer’s Home Companion” as a birthday present by my oldest brother, and one of the essays in the book is about revision, and how this poem specifically came into existence over multiple drafts. I encountered this poem as a 13-year-old. When did you first learn about this poem? Elizabeth Bishop’s One Art is featured heavily in All My Rage.

Book all my rage