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midnightrose_reads's review
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, and Death
fujo_cat's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse
Minor: Cursing, Blood, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Rape, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
glitterpricked's review against another edition
1.0
I'm not a poetry snob at all, I barely read poetry actually, but variety is so important in any book. if a novel used only simple sentences or long sentences just with "and" in the middle a bunch of times, I would lose my mind. I don't think it counts as poetry to press enter after every couple of words and to type in lowercase and to maybe switch up the formatting once in a while.
I appreciate that she was very open about her personal struggles, but I feel like there's this kind of trap where heavy topics equal good somehow. if Amanda Lovelace was writing about the mundane, this book wouldn't have sold very many copies, despite the fact that there are many poets who can make the mundane sound beautiful, all without over-romanticising it too. but Lovelace soaked their poems here with bland, surface-level metaphors that personally did nothing for me. the themes in a book are not enough to make something worth reading.
and in terms of the themes, there were plenty of topics that are worth discussing in wider society. however, one of my problems with Lovelace was that she added nothing new to the conversation. again, I haven't read much poetry, let alone instapoetry, but most of what Lovelace spoke about could've been found all across Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and pretty much anywhere else on the Internet. yes, fatphobia is a horrible thing, but saying it's a horrible thing isn't a poem; it's a statement that can be thought of and written down in less than 30 seconds, and then apparently published. it's not poetry to recycle things that have been said thousands of times before.
there's probably more I can say, but I've spent more time on this review than I did reading the book so I'd rather not draw it out any longer. I'm willing to give more of their poetry a chance considering how long ago this was written, but for now, my opinion of their work (not them as a person!) isn't great, to say the least.
Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Eating disorder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Cancer, Body shaming, and Bullying