joelleslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Such a unique poetry collection with the combination of black out poetry within the second half of the collection. I had a great time reading this!
beezity's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
triz193's review against another edition
5.0
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
"We are in repair, never beyond repair,
We are healing, never healed."
This was beautiful.... The author's accounts of anxiety, hurt and life were heartbreaking, and so relatable and sad and frustrating and necessary, it was beautiful, and it was everything.
Really an artpiece on feelings was born from Alicia Cook and I'm very glad I read this. This made me feel understood as a person as only (great) poetry can achieve. For each poem there's a song related to it at the end, and that makes it so much more personal (specially since I knew most of them :). Lastly, the author makes "remixes of the poems, doing something so, so visual and different, it reminded me a little of Leminski's work. I didn't know if I cried or if I called my best friend to say hey - this is f*ing everything! I need you to read this because we both need this!
Many thanks for letting me read this.
I was better because of it.
I hope others will love it too.
"We are in repair, never beyond repair,
We are healing, never healed."
This was beautiful.... The author's accounts of anxiety, hurt and life were heartbreaking, and so relatable and sad and frustrating and necessary, it was beautiful, and it was everything.
Really an artpiece on feelings was born from Alicia Cook and I'm very glad I read this. This made me feel understood as a person as only (great) poetry can achieve. For each poem there's a song related to it at the end, and that makes it so much more personal (specially since I knew most of them :). Lastly, the author makes "remixes of the poems, doing something so, so visual and different, it reminded me a little of Leminski's work. I didn't know if I cried or if I called my best friend to say hey - this is f*ing everything! I need you to read this because we both need this!
Many thanks for letting me read this.
I was better because of it.
I hope others will love it too.
printed_notpressed's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
the_s_lightacademic's review against another edition
5.0
there were so many poems I connected to, and Alicia's way of writing is so captivating. I truly fell in love with this book and am so happy it's my first five star of this year
virginiacjacobs's review against another edition
5.0
This is the best book on what it's like to live with depression that I have ever read.
fieldofhats's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
The Alicia Cook is a MASTER of found poetry. I have always been intrigued by found poetry, and Alicia Cook does wonders with the format. Sometimes it’s simple and concise, conveying an idea or image, sometimes it’s a maze you have to travel through to find the true message. I absolutely adored every single found poem in this collection, and the fact that she used her own poems from the first half of the book as a baseline is all the more impressive.
I did not like the poems from the first half of this collection, though. None of them were bad or problematic, I just found them bland and honestly pretty boring. There were some highlights, like Track Twenty, but they were few and far between.
This book is an incredible dive into found poetry, and it really stands out as the highlight of the collection. If you like found poetry, this collection is worth it. If you don’t like found poetry, or don’t really care, then I would advise you to not pick this one up.
I did not like the poems from the first half of this collection, though. None of them were bad or problematic, I just found them bland and honestly pretty boring. There were some highlights, like Track Twenty, but they were few and far between.
This book is an incredible dive into found poetry, and it really stands out as the highlight of the collection. If you like found poetry, this collection is worth it. If you don’t like found poetry, or don’t really care, then I would advise you to not pick this one up.
dorayangvip's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book extremely human and relatable. I've struggled with my mental health for a long time, and to be able to relate to this collection of poetry was quite surprising to me. I did find the whole book a bit long, maybe it's the combination of its length and the heaviness of the topics, I found it a bit tiring by the end of it.
magnoliophyta's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.75