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A review by 12dejamoo
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass by Lana Del Rey
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
This collection was so weird.
There was something very disingenuous in saying 'you think I'm rich and I am but not how you think' and 'my thoughts are not for sale' when you are rich and I literally paid for this poetry collection. But other than that I felt a lot of the poems had a lot of value. Some were that classic moody vibe you expect from Lana Del Rey and sort of is a reflection of the mood you feel when you're all in your feelings and selfish and you want to, like, write sad quotes in a diary that you don't keep idk. But then some I actually really liked, which hit me somewhere in my heart and I would return to. I think my favourite was SportsCruiser.
Some of the poems to me read as closer to song lyrics, but most managed to read as poems. I did find it weird all the references to her as a poet or relying on poetry or whatever, just because it's not something she is known for. She says that the title poem is the first she ever wrote so it seems weird to brand herself entirely as a poet throughout the book, but then again if I didn't know who she was outside of the poetry I wouldn't think that was weird so that's just a kind of irrelevant context thing.
If you want happy poetry, this is not the collection for you. I mean, there were a handful about escaping abusive situations which I liked and had a more hopeful side, but none which were explicitly happy (even the one called 'happy' which felt a bit bittersweet - this is also the one where she says she's not rich so eh).
There was something very disingenuous in saying 'you think I'm rich and I am but not how you think' and 'my thoughts are not for sale' when you are rich and I literally paid for this poetry collection. But other than that I felt a lot of the poems had a lot of value. Some were that classic moody vibe you expect from Lana Del Rey and sort of is a reflection of the mood you feel when you're all in your feelings and selfish and you want to, like, write sad quotes in a diary that you don't keep idk. But then some I actually really liked, which hit me somewhere in my heart and I would return to. I think my favourite was SportsCruiser.
Some of the poems to me read as closer to song lyrics, but most managed to read as poems. I did find it weird all the references to her as a poet or relying on poetry or whatever, just because it's not something she is known for. She says that the title poem is the first she ever wrote so it seems weird to brand herself entirely as a poet throughout the book, but then again if I didn't know who she was outside of the poetry I wouldn't think that was weird so that's just a kind of irrelevant context thing.
If you want happy poetry, this is not the collection for you. I mean, there were a handful about escaping abusive situations which I liked and had a more hopeful side, but none which were explicitly happy (even the one called 'happy' which felt a bit bittersweet - this is also the one where she says she's not rich so eh).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Mental illness and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism and Forced institutionalization