Joy of Missing Out

by Ana Bozicevic

Poetry. Women's Studies. LGBTQIA Studies. Joy of Missing Out is starlite verse on death and independence for the dreamers, dropouts, rebels and the neuroatypical. A confession and sublimation of breakdowns personal and systemic, Joy of Missing Out paints a playful and unflinching portrait of the ups and downs of city survival and queer romance. Simultaneously it deploys online slang and high lyrical registers, morphs the sad girl into Baba Yaga, drops truth bombs on art and politics, and puts the sin into sincerity. Even as it engineers the death of its speaker, Joy of Missing Out is a paradoxically joyous litany of her endurance and a boost-plea to stay in a messed-up world and say it out loud. This anthem is best read at night or dawn when no one's around for a Like or a kiss.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT

94 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2017

About the author

Ana Božičević is the author of Joy of Missing Out (Birds, LLC, 2017), the Lambda Award-Winning Rise in the Fall (Birds, LLC, 2013), and Stars of the Night Commute (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2009).

She is also the translator of It Was Easy to Set the Snow on Fire by Zvonko Karanović (Phoneme Media, 2017), a recipient of the PEN / NYSCA grant.

Reviews

[Adara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, Ana, I watched Black Mirror too.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding a pile of glitter in the gutter. A collection that strays a bit from the tone/style of Bozicevic's first two books for something both lighthearted and yet heart-wrenching. To be lonely and in love in the internet era.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt very fresh and modern, an enjoyable read that felt light after the heaviness of the past few books. The energy and tone of the collection made the textspeak and language from internet culture seem natural. The use of textspeak may make some overlook this book but the aside where the speaker reveals themselves shows this is more than surface glitter. My favorite title was '👻'.

[Slow Culture Magazine · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read Joy of Missing Out about a year ago, and loved it so much that it ended up in our 2019 top 10. Ana Bozicevic's verses reflects on one's soul, and penetrates one's mind with skillful softness.

[Melis Gördem · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’ve heard of FOMO, also known as the Fear of Missing Out, which spurred due to our increasing use of social media; however, what if we flip that narrative into an ironically positive view? Ana Božičević’s "Joy of Missing Out" is a masterful book that talks about the lows and highs of one’s life and death through an utmost unconventional method of writing poetry. She utilizes abstract expressions that we’re all accustomed to feeling and translates them through obscure yet tangible images, leaping from image to image.
For instance, when illustrating love, a reoccurring theme that includes how the speaker yearns, copes, or lives with or without her lover, she can portray love as a coat or even as seahorses reporting back data to the speaker that she is beautiful.
To add on, Božičević incorporates comedy when portraying these abstract expressions. She does this by using online slang, such as lol and abbreviating words like “you” into “u”. An example of her comedic genius would be when she writes “With my mind I got braver and / Looked out the window / (the OG browser)”, for I couldn’t help but giggle at the well-placed interruption, making her use of online lingo relatable to her audience (Božičević 54).
Despite how comedic her poetry can be, it’s also harsh and serious at times for when she dives into social commentary. Božičević opens up about femininity, publicizing this fear that women should be youthful and beautiful in order to be marriageable, a norm that has been widespread on social media and even prior to our generation. Even so, she retorts this norm by letting her poetry describe “unladylike” actions the speaker does, such as drinking, attempting to find a job or working a job, using vulgar language, and having multiple lovers; this illustration of commentary reveals how, like the title, she uses juxtaposition throughout to express her contrasting views and images. All in all, the “Joy of Missing Out” is an existential piece that discusses the full spectrum of life even through all its grotesqueness.

Check out this review on @canwediscusspoetry on Instagram!

[M]

"Maybe the new revolt is
not to reveal a damn thing."