Reviews

Escaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark

elizaunderlined's review against another edition

2.0

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

I feel like I'm being generous with a two star rating here, which I'm giving because I know how subjective poetry is.

But I ended up tapping out of this book around 70 percent because I just was not finding anything to enjoy. There was not a single poem or even line that stood out to me, that made me pause, that caused my heart to squeeze or flutter. I felt nothing reading this collection. Nothing about it really even felt poetic, more like musings of the author, as if I dipped into her stream of consciousness.

The best I can say is if you hate Siken's works for being overly flowery, metaphorical, and confusing, you may like this collection of poems instead.

nazbookclub's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

rlaferney's review against another edition

5.0

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!I loved almost every other poem in the book! And the ones I didn’t love, I liked.

Escaping the Body is a surreal and profound journey through space, forests, monsters, myths, spells, magic tricks, forests, and the body. Escaping the Body is a collection of dreams of the flesh, exploring the cosmic rifts between the soul and the body and the interconnectedness of living things. From bizarre doctor visits to contemplating Zombies and our current pandemic - these poems are at once tender, terrifying, and honest.

Highlights for me included: "Undue Acidity In Your Veins" - which is a horrorfest gem, "Apocalypse Scenario" - which might be THE POEM OF THE PAST TWO YEARS for me personally, and "Sci-Fi Lesson" as well as "How to Grow Your Own Forests."

If you love horror, love nature, love exploring the cracks between existence, read this collection.

Thanks to Netgalley once again.

surikiranism's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book! I finished this poetry book today and it was so good!! I'm usually always icky with new poetry collections and arcs because i end up not liking them but this one was really good. some of these poems are highlights in my kindle and i really loved the way the poet's style in some of these poems. it was the right poetry style for me and i'm so glad i got a chance to review it before the release!! 

imaginary_space's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

"We can trace everything to its roots. It's what we are especially good at. Yet still we cannot find any explanation there."

I wanted to read more poetry this year and Escaping the Body by Chloe N. Clark was a perfect start.

It is raw, honest and at times brutal. Clark weaves together all the ways we feel our bodies and how we are estranged from them. This is not an easy subject, and with so few pages she manages to say so much about it. I was impressed by how different her works were while still staying true to her chosen topic, and I enjoyed the speculative and horror vibes of some of the poems. There were only 1 or 2 that didn't really click with me, I've read all the others several times already. I was hoping for a collection that would make me feel something, and this one delivered. After getting myself a physical copy, I think I will be reading this again and again.

This is a powerful, emotional, intelligent and overall impressive collection and I will definitely read more by Chloe N. Clark.

I was especially impressed by "Missing Girl Found", "Insert Bad Joke Here" and "The Undue Acidity In Your Veins".

Thank you to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

alexrinehart's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

kornwaiisms's review against another edition

3.0

“someone told me once that i slept like i
was lost in space, arms flung out to catch
the debris from dying stars,
and i think they meant it as an insult,
or a you-need-to-take-up-less-room,
but i always heard it as the highest compliment because i've always wanted to spend
my nights arcing past planets,
tasting the solar system”

“your grandmother told you, once,
that cleaning is the best way to
remember you're alive: the traces
through dust, the evapor-
ating smear of soap on glass.”

—i really liked this poetry collection! the poems felt very personal, i enjoyed how beautifully they were written and the imagery allowed me to create my own meanings for them :')

( received this through netgalley! thank you! )

laurxndxx's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Chloe N. Clark and the publisher for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully raw and heartbreaking collection of poetry. I read it in one sitting and fell in love with them all. 

versmonesprit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Chloe Clark’s pen turns the simplest of words, ideas, thoughts into inspired and inspiring darkly sentimental poetry in Escaping the Body. Among the five parts making up the book, for me the strongest was the first. I did not enjoy tech lingo, pop culture, and magic tricks being introduced into and made central in some of the featured poems. The ones I liked (surreal, mystical, dark, deeply sentimental) made every second of reading this book worth it. The lyrically political & Other Ways to Read the Dirt has become one of my all-time favourite poems, it alone is enough to give Escaping the Body a chance. 

DRC provided by NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death

tk95's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

3.0

the writing is good, but the poetry was not fully pleasing for me. It is a good book but not amazing.