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Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Terminal illness
Minor: Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Suicide
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content
I did ding a few points off because I hate it when there is just one sentence on a page. I feel like those would be better off in a separate section titled something like "Affirmations" or "Reminders."
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
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: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent
I liked that it started with a trigger warning for everything mentioned throughout the book. It's something that should be adopted for all literature, but especially poetry. Unfortunately, it was all down from there.
Poetry is more than just short, punchy sentences, spaced out to "look" like poetry. Everything in this collection felt, unfinished, cliche, and lacked lyricism. The content is strong but the writing renders it free of any real impact and strips it of genuine emotion. This feels like the devastating aftershock of insta-poetry.
Out of everything, I liked only one line, on page 86. I won't even call it a poem, but it was a strong descriptive sentence that I liked.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Blood