jo_bahdo's reviews
60 reviews

Every page of this collection has been pure pleasure.
I loved how Diane Lato played with words creating imaginative pictures and visual representations directly on the page. The intensity of each word has been designed and shaped, nothing is “just” written here.
She managed to trigger all of my senses and challenge my thoughts. I find it fascinating how she creates complexity out of banal and cliches, giving a whole new twist to reality.

The book mainly rotates around endometriosis and chronic illness, shedding light on the many consequences one has to endure daily and how hard it can be to explain something that’s not exactly visible. Painful, nevertheless.

I have a chronic illness myself, which is so invisible sometimes I forget about it, but it always makes sure to come back at me and knock me out. I could relate to many pieces, but Christina’s writing is so precise and fulfilled by emotions that I felt the pain even behind those pieces that I couldn’t really deeply understand.

I feel like with this book I could finally have a better grasp on Christina’s writing, better than I ever experienced from her instagram posts, not that those aren’t good. But the book gave a whole other experience that I truly recommend to everyone, even to the “super healthy” people. Actually, particularly to those because it’s always good to educate oneself and be aware and understanding.

What I really appreciated is the structuring of the book, I liked that the piece would not always start at the top of the page but somewhere else and I liked how some words have been physically stretch to emphasise their meaning. I really like this whole concept of using the space with a more creative attitude.

It is a book that I would recommend to whoever wants to start reading poetry and is too scared towards intricate verses and complex imagery.

It’s a good book to carry around with you, fits perfectly on your beg and most importantly the words that are collected will perfectly fit any of your moods.

It’s a like a friend that has exactly the right words that you need to hear.

I recommend it for every person that would like to read more creative writing and needs some approachable words of comfort.

I just could not get off this book. I was completely into the story. With all my thoughts, with all my emotions and my body - I would shiver, I would feel my stomach tangling in itself. I wished for my eyes to move faster from one page to the other, starved to know more, to know what will happen next with curiosity and anxiety.

So far this year I read mostly poetry, Y. Book is all prose, it’s a journey of love, relationship, friendship, family, career - everything that makes someone’f life - filled with vivid and hurtful descriptions and food. I would have loved being able to cook and eat everything is being listed while reading on, but truly I was paralysed on the sofa and on the same exact position for all the hours it took me to read it all and I would have not moved even if the food was there in front of me.

I like the structure of the book, the fact that there is a concrete direction it aims at, an attempt at delivering a message beyond the words that are shared. However, I found most pieces too short and empty. But this is just my personal taste. I guess they can make the whole book less intimidating for readers that are just adventuring into creative writing.

I had some conflicts with this collection. At times the pieces were great: great word choice and play and imagery. I felt like I could actually learn something about how to write. Other times the pieces felt kind of immature, too much wording and no real meaning.
But overall is worth reading, especially for those moments of hype.

I didn’t really feel this book. It covers the classical topics of love and heartbreak and all the shades in between but somehow it just didn’t come through me as I was expecting. I often thought that there were too many words or that the imagery created was too cliché or not strong enough.
There’s definitely potential for growing and I appreciated the final note of the author, mentioning that she is learning.
I am learning too, and I like it when someone can be honest about their work and aware that there is always space of improvement. I think that being able to recognise this of oneself, to be self critical and welcoming of criticism is a must trait to have in order to become an actual writer or artist.
the author is definitely on the right path!