am i too broken?: Mental Illness from a Teenager's Perspective

by Aryana Altaha

"if your body gets a cold
you ask for help,
now you’re healthy .

but if your soul goes cold
if you ask for help,
now you’re weak . why is it acceptable if my body hurts and not my heart? mental illness shouldn’t be taboo"
–a glimpse into the heart-breaking & heart-mending tale of am i too broken?

Genres: Poetry, Self Help, Mental Illness

148 pages, Paperback

Published July 4, 2023

Reviews

[emma ☆°｡⋆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

”if you surround yourself with people
who don't see your value,
soon you'll lose sight of it too”

though i liked the messaging, i didn’t think the poems themselves were good. there were a lot of relatable and interesting lines, but nothing really memorable. i tried to put my best poet voice and read them out loud, but i couldn’t find any sort of flow.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the book
It’s like you’re going through Aryana’s mind while she’s hurting in the caged part and while she’s healing in the finally flying part.

The best/worst part is that I can relate to this book. I understand it better because of that

You should read it. It doesn’t matter if you would relate to it or not you should read it

[Shelley L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so beautifully written by a young author. She writes her struggles through poetry. Each poem has such profound meaning.
I truly hope young people read this book and know that they are not alone.

[Ana A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy wow!!! Where was this when I was a teen!? So many years of struggling in silence not know how to express my thoughts and just reading this, made me sob for my teenager self. 🤍🤍

[Ankita · Rating 4 out of 5]

"𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡
𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞."


Considering it's written by a teenager, it was so devastatingly good. And the flying part?? I just wish she heals from everything she is going and had gone through.

[Salahuddin Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will heal.
You are not “too broken”.
You will always be worthy of love.

A philosophy called 'Kintsugi' has been prevalent among the Japanese since the 15th century. Which means to recognize beauty by reassembling broken pieces of terracotta or glass or ceramic vessels with gold or other metals. It is an extension of the Japanese 'Wabi Sabi' philosophy which means seeing beauty in imperfection and appreciating simplicity. At a certain stage of age, many thoughts, feelings, emotions accumulate in our brain and mind. They create a lot of Chaos inside us. We become prisoners of ourselves. After a while we sink into despair. A lot of words accumulate and the head becomes heavy. We feel pain inside our chest. Aryana Altaha (the author of the book) has been able to say the words accumulated in our caged state to a large extent in the 'Caged' part of this book. Here the author expresses how we become captives to ourselves. The impact of thoughts, feelings, emotions of this age from a teenage perspective is depicted in every line. Then comes the second and last part of the book, 'Finally Flying'. I hope the words here will give you that feeling even if you don't really fly under the open sky. It's like you are going through a teenager mind while hurting in the caged part and while healing in the finally flying part.

The inside of the book is as beautiful as the cover!

[umama. · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is this book not written by me? Especially the Caged part 'cause I'm not flying yet. But oh, how I would love to feel that way too.
I know what it is like to feel caged. In this book, the author describes it perfectly. She knows me more than anyone without knowing me at all. Loved the whole book from the beginning to the very end. ♡

[Mariam · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

This was my first ever poetry book, and I was not expecting a lot, but damn. I swear I loved this book from the very beginning till the end. Each piece of poetry was so special, and the way I could relate with every line. Just woah. I'm surprised that I'm not the one who wrote this book, cause this author knew exactly what I felt without knowing me at all.

[KOOSHA AZHIE · Rating 5 out of 5]

"if you are here for me
i will smile

but if you are not
i will smile anyway
because i have me
and

i
will
never
leave me"

It's pretty amazing. Aryana takes you on a journey through their mind in "am i too broken?"
Highly recommended

[Laila · Rating 3 out of 5]

You don't need a right time but right mind to read this one...
This book will make you feel everything you've forgotten, maybe break you or heal you. It's definitely not a quick read.



"your life is like a flower that blooms poisons of pain."

[Nevermind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend to teenagers

[Anna L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the honesty and the poetry was written beautifully

[HebsHamtaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where has this book been all my life! So glad I found it ❤️
This book was able to put all my feelings and thoughts into the right words

[Rudolf Hovsepyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially, I rated this book 4 stars due to the writing style. But (there is a huge but) I truly desire to support this author, considering that my rating is going to be 5 stars!

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how authentic and vulnerable it felt. It helped me feel like I wasn’t alone and seeing how the authors mental health was improving throughout the poems, felt really inspiring.

[Neveah J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this everyone from ALL ages, especially teenagers

[Tay Rayemberly ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn, This book was something.
It's full of hurt , what Lay's in a teens heart.
Everything was so good in this book.

[Delulu_haven]

Very warm huggiee 🫂

[Columbia Tippett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly written and perfectly reflects how i feel at times it is relatable and beautifully written (made me cry)

[Kas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like this book called me out on a lot of stuff I was dealing with/going through. it does help to know you're not alone.

[Bhavika · Rating 3 out of 5]

“if you can imagine the worst
you can imagine the best.”

[Rihab Hel · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a stage in your life when you can relate with this book, I highly recommend to teenager

[شيماء محمد مصطفي · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my fav books
Here's some quotes of the book

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxYh9CJrN...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxdsIppLB...

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

29.01.24: first time reading
3.5//5

Not a big poetry fan but i liked this one. There were poems that really spoke to me but not most of them. Would recommend.

19.01.24
5//5

It was my firts time reading poetry outside of a classroom. Now that has been almost a year i can say that i spent a lot of it think about this book