1 star
This is a collection of visual poetry, the majority of which were written on a typewriter with little to no editing.
Overall, there is definite feeling in this book. Ideas are expressed and memories are shared that evoke strong emotions while also provoking thoughts. There was no shortage of ideas in this collection.
However, the overall execution of the ideas was not for me. As I said, this is a book of visual poetry. Because of this, many of the pages look very cool with different colored lettering, uneven lines, juxtapositions, illustrations, and other effects. But on the whole, this book was hard to read. The uneven lines often made it difficult to figure out what came next, some of the text was insanely small (maybe I’m just getting old, but I still have 20/20 vision and had a hard time making out some of it), and some of the lettering was faded making it very hard to read.
Also, because it wasn’t edited, there are a lot of spelling mistakes. In general you can figure out what was meant, but it does take away from the overall comprehension of the piece when you have to stop and try to decipher the words. Honestly, I still don’t know what “fualities of the past” was alluding to.
The poetry also read as a one and done process. They felt like they were busted out in a sitting, usually in the form of stream of consciousness, and then called complete. As someone who re-reads, edits, and makes multiple drafts and changes while writing poetry, I think poems are often made stronger with the right amount of editing. Sometimes you write a piece, and in the moment it makes perfect sense, then you look back at it and realize it is really unclear. These are the times that editing is important. It helps strengthen your ideas and allows them to be expressed to a wider audience (i.e. not just yourself). This book could have really used that.
I read this in a day because none of the poems made me feel like I needed to stop and consider them. Usually when I read poetry, I try to read it slowly and linger on pieces that really make me think. However, I didn’t really get that with this book. It felt rushed.
As I said before, there are some real emotions and ideas presented here. I think it was especially brave for Thorne to express her traumas and I hope that this helps her heal and grow. Many of the visual effects were cool, especially the love/hate/liar juxtaposition page. However, this collection was not presented well, was often difficult to read, and did not feel like it was given enough time to mature during the writing process. Not a good fit for me.