Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Violette sur l'herbe à la renverse

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).

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literarytaurean's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

I think this lived up to what I expected from her

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angel_lyd's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

5.0

As a huge fan of Lana, I was so excited to find out she was releasing a poetry book. I’ve been a fan since 2012 and I’ve always adored her references to vintage americana and classic fiction. The book is a collection of short and long poems with beautiful images. My personal favourites are ‘Paradise is very fragile’, ‘Never to Heaven’, ‘Thanks to the locals’ and ‘Tessa DiPietro’. It’s a beautiful book to own as a fan and it’s also a book I would recommend to other fans of poetry as a big appreciator myself. It’s fairly easy to read too so definitely a good option for people looking to get into poetry. It discusses subjects such as Love, Family, Rehab, Fame, Friendships and more.

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shreeyanair's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

3.5

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fightingmarc's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

2.0

This is a frustrating collection. Grant can weave atmosphere fluently, but often times poems would careen off into an anxiousness that largely surrounds her ability and journey as a writer. The images she explores are beautiful but fleeting and fail to make any sort of lasting impression.

Grant's thoughts on her own wealth raises some eyebrows. She mentions travelling with billionaires, struggling with fame and being "known", SoulCycle and her love affair with LA and Hollywood, her flying and sailing lessons, but repeatedly reiterates that she is "rich but not how they think I am" which infers a cringe-worthy lack of self-awareness. There's a defensiveness to Grant's work here, and it lacks the warmth, vulnerability and introspection seen in Video Games and Born to Die.

This would be a great collection for someone who is already a fan of Lana Del Rey, but a deeper insight into Grant as an artist and a writer is markedly absent.

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