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amysbooked's review
5.0
I'm quite honestly not sure how to review this. In short, read it. In fact, everyone should read it. Throughout the book I found myself both not relating to things at all and feeling like Shilo had ripped my thoughts out of my heart and my head and then made me read them. Shilo writes about trauma and illness, the consequences of other's actions on our bodies and our minds. The things we can't control, the people we can no longer be. I'll be thinking about these poems for a very long time.
undermeyou's review
5.0
I cannot imagine ever not loving something Shilo writes. Everything feels raw but in the way that nostalgia can make you feel raw. Like a controlled burn rather than a chaos overcoming you.
tessa_talbert's review
3.0
3.5 Stars ⭐
I wasn't sure about this at first. The language didn't flow for me when I opened it the first time. It felt almost like looking into the disjointed amalgam of someone's subconscious. But as I kept reading, I realized, that's really what it was.
Apathy, trauma, the terror of stillness; Atrophy surely doesn't shy away from the messy parts of being human. I found plenty of passages, especially later that had me nodding, finally, in understanding. Get yourself about 15% in and you will too.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc in exchange for my honest review.
I wasn't sure about this at first. The language didn't flow for me when I opened it the first time. It felt almost like looking into the disjointed amalgam of someone's subconscious. But as I kept reading, I realized, that's really what it was.
Apathy, trauma, the terror of stillness; Atrophy surely doesn't shy away from the messy parts of being human. I found plenty of passages, especially later that had me nodding, finally, in understanding. Get yourself about 15% in and you will too.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc in exchange for my honest review.
seherina's review
dark
slow-paced
3.0
While I strongly relate to some of the things the poet talks about in this collection, the body that slowly but surely starts to fail on you, the collection wasn't for me. I had to force myself to read it and get through it.
airxsouls's review
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley!
A poetry collection filled with the down and dirty parts of being alive in this world. While considered depressing, it’s also a way to see others have gone through this life very eerily similar. I think this reflects the places the author has been and that sharing them with the world is important!
A poetry collection filled with the down and dirty parts of being alive in this world. While considered depressing, it’s also a way to see others have gone through this life very eerily similar. I think this reflects the places the author has been and that sharing them with the world is important!
ivyeori's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
[4.5]
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Many thanks to the author and BookSirens.
Wow. As a reader of more classic books, it was great to read a poetry collection which had its roots so firmly into the craziness of modern living, particularly the pandemic lockdowns. As well as this, the poet’s own life is entangled in every poem, which honestly made it difficult to “rate” … it felt like i was sifting through somebody’s traumas and pains. I particularly appreciated how deeply the poet would compare her body to nature, as well as the familiar intrigue yet hatred of your body’s chronic pain (something I also know well).
What I loved about this collection was the simple domesticity of, for example, folding laundry, whilst simultaneously feeling these large cavernous dark feelings inside, as if the poem is a secret told in her head.
Some of my favourite poems included “a Wolf at the Door”, “Ode to my Legs” and “Ode to Lost Things”.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Many thanks to the author and BookSirens.
Wow. As a reader of more classic books, it was great to read a poetry collection which had its roots so firmly into the craziness of modern living, particularly the pandemic lockdowns. As well as this, the poet’s own life is entangled in every poem, which honestly made it difficult to “rate” … it felt like i was sifting through somebody’s traumas and pains. I particularly appreciated how deeply the poet would compare her body to nature, as well as the familiar intrigue yet hatred of your body’s chronic pain (something I also know well).
What I loved about this collection was the simple domesticity of, for example, folding laundry, whilst simultaneously feeling these large cavernous dark feelings inside, as if the poem is a secret told in her head.
Some of my favourite poems included “a Wolf at the Door”, “Ode to my Legs” and “Ode to Lost Things”.
chelsss_ann's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I like heavy poetry, but I was not expecting to connect with poetry that felt this heavy. Much of this poetry was written during or about living during the pandemic. atrophy gives us a good look into what it was like to live during the pandemic as someone who is immunocompromised. This book of poetry also heavily discusses sexual trauma. So while this a book of poetry that really evokes tons of feelings, please check the trigger warnings before beginning it.
My biggest takeaway from works of poetry like this is I wish I was able to be this vulnerable. While I share emotions like this with a few loved ones, I could not imagine putting these emotions out there where anyone could see them.
My biggest takeaway from works of poetry like this is I wish I was able to be this vulnerable. While I share emotions like this with a few loved ones, I could not imagine putting these emotions out there where anyone could see them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Sexual assault and Pandemic/Epidemic
bigtiddygandalf's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Stunning as well as unnervingly honest poetry. At times, the author cast an unflinching look at not only chronic illness, living through late stage capitalism and an global epidemic, but also at surviving trauma and reliving the whole of it in the years to come. All of these poems und storybits mixed together, form a kaleidoscope of joy as well as pain, of regret as well as yearning. Absolutely loved reading this collection, and I am sure I will pick it up more often to read it again and again.
jasperdotpdf's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
4.75
Thank you to NetGalley and Querencia Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
"When the waters rage and the
rain pours for days on end,
will we finally learn how to cry?"
For the first few poems I wasn't entirely convinced by atrophy. I struggled with the contrast of poetic language and the modern, the mundane. The inconsistency between lyricism and colloquialism. But the more I kept reading, the more this book had me hooked. Had me gripped by the spine and pulled me with it down the current of emotion, anguish and breathtaking writing that atrophy is.
The further along I got in the book, the more poems I found that had me needing to take a few breaths, a few moments to process; in a good way.
I still occasionally felt frustrated with, what to me felt like, breaks and gaps in theme and immersion. And while there was annoyance with heavy repetition of events or stylistic devices, some eventually developed into a rich symbolism that was present throughout the book.
"But aren't we already what is wild and alive,
Toes pressing mud and feeling the bite
Of winter still swallowing the mountains,
Making us rope our arms around our chests"
So many of these poems hit me hard, both in how beautifully they were written, and also how familiar they felt. Familiar in ways that made me recognise myself in the pages, that made me feel like Niziolek took a peek into the box stowed away somewhere in my mind, in which I keep my collection of things that fuck me up emotionally.
"I strip my skin a thousand times, string it up like a canvas and place it in the museum for greedy fingers to touch."
I cherish the imprints reading atrophy has left on me and I will 100% return to it again in the future.
4.5⭐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Animal death
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