At about page 30,
I started skimming through
the rest of this collection.
By the end of it,
I could not find any
s u b s t a n t i a l
p o e t r y .

The so-called hymms
were really just
one-sentenced man-splaining
expressed in
a e s t h e t i c s .

Pseudo-intellectual
pseudo-inspirational
pseudo-feminist
content so generic (and
more than occasionally
problematic) that
I am genuinely astounded
this author has not been
sued by every pharmaceutical
drug store out there.
J e s u s
C h r i s t .

Reading this felt like
going through a series of
poorly written and
equally poorly edited
self-help books
full of quotes that leave readers
e m p t y - h a n d e d .

In all honesty,
I found more entertainment
in the 1-star reviews
of this book
than the book itself.
If I were tasked to rename this heap
of drivel, I'd call it:
She He Felt Like
W r i t i n g
N o t h i n g .

P.S.
R.H. Sin is a cis man
and the idea of a cis man
writing women's experiences
from the perspective of a "woman" is
so icky and so gross;
a woman's voice is not theirs to take
and is not theirs to profit from.
I'm angry and I
won't apologize for it.
Instead of reading this book,
please support
poetry written by real
w o m e n .

----------------

Note (04/11/18):
I've been told that my review doesn't sufficiently explain my thoughts on this collection. In which case, here's a condensed list of what my poem was trying to say:

1. The pieces in She Felt Like Feeling Nothing are repeatedly repackaged content or reiterations of the same messages/points.

2. This collection tries to be uplifting, insightful and empowering to women. However, as I've mentioned in the poem, it's pseudo-inspirational, pseudo-intellectual, and pseudo-feminist. Why? Because women are described as special manic pixie dream girls. Because this book lures readers into a false security of allyship when, in fact, the author is just man-splaining on how women should act and should value themselves.

3. There didn't seem to be much thought in the form and structure of the poems outside of fulfilling the need for aesthetics. (You can refer to my poem to have an idea of how the poems are structured.)

4. The author tries to write in a woman's perspective and spectacularly fails in doing so. The content of this collection is shallow, agonizingly repetitive, full of cliches, and severely lacks nuance.

5. All in all, I cannot support nor respect a person who exploits the struggles of a marginalized community and profits from assuming their voices and writing about experiences that aren't his to talk about. As I've said: A woman's voice isn't for a cis man to take and is not his to profit from.

Quick disclosure: I received a digital copy of She Felt Like Feeling Nothing (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 0 stars