Date Started: 8/22/18
Date Finished: 8/22/18
Publication Date: 10/2/18
Genre: Poetry
Rating: 4/5
Thoughts:
Soft Thorns is yet another “instagram” poetry book that I’ve fallen in love with. Perhaps I just prefer the brief yet deep poetry, but something about this style has been resonating with me as of late. This book is published (or republished, as I think it was self-published before) by the same company responsible for Rupi Kaur, Courtney Peppernell, Amanda Lovelace, and r.h. Sin, so you can rest assured that this poetry is of the same caliber.
Soft Thorns is broken up into 5 sections: Bleed, Love, Scar, Learn, and Heal. While I normally suggest just cracking open poetry books to a random page and going for it, I feel that this one really tells a story if you read it in order, as opposed to other collections that just have poems arranged randomly.
Her poetry touches on some difficult subjects, such as sexual assault, heartbreak, but it also deals with love and moving on from difficult times. Like I said, it really tells a story if you read it from start to finish.
Given that it’s a collection of poetry, it’s pretty easy to get through this book quickly. Of course, read it the way you’d like to, whether that be in small sections or all at once, in order or randomly. There are occasional hand drawn images throughout it, usually of hands, roses, or bodies. They aren’t detailed, but they add to the collection.
As for the poetry itself, I enjoyed many of them, but some of them fell a bit flat for me. While I usually love brief, powerful lines, many of the very short poems didn’t really make me feel anything. While they contribute to the overall story that Devoue is telling through the poetry, I just think that they could have been written better. Some of the poems were a bit cliche as well, just rewording classic sayings.
All in all, I did enjoy this poetry collection, even if some of the poems were a bit lackluster. Fans of “Instagram poets” such as Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace will probably enjoy this collection.
*I recieved an e-arc of this book via Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts are my own.*
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