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All of It Is You.
A debut poetry collection from actor Nico Tortorella exploring “all of it,” from the smallest cells in our bodies to the outer limits of our universe.
Nico Tortorella's debut poetry collection presents a singular voice honed through years as an actor, podcaster, and advocate, one colored with love, wonder, and endless curiosity. But it is also more than just words on a page – it is a sensuous journey into who we are and how we relate to the world around us, showing how the connections we make are vital to understanding why we are here.
Provocative, enlightening, and emotionally charged, all of it is you. is a poetry experience like no other.
Nico Tortorella's debut poetry collection presents a singular voice honed through years as an actor, podcaster, and advocate, one colored with love, wonder, and endless curiosity. But it is also more than just words on a page – it is a sensuous journey into who we are and how we relate to the world around us, showing how the connections we make are vital to understanding why we are here.
Provocative, enlightening, and emotionally charged, all of it is you. is a poetry experience like no other.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2018
45 people are currently reading
620 people want to read
About the author
Nico Tortorella
5 books102 followersNico Tortorella is an actor, television personality, and author of the poetry collection all of it is you. Nico stars in the hit series Younger and is an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. They live in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
August 13, 2019
Now, I'm not normally one to qualify what something is or isn't. Who am I to say? I've written romance, but a lot of readers don't think what I write is really romance. I do. To each their own.
But this? This is not poetry. It's garbage. It's bullshit sound games and stoner word associations.
I should have known I was in for a fucking trip when the introduction literally said, "This book has one of the greatest titles of all time." Oh, and also, "I can promise there is real, direct from source alchemy present on every single page." Dude. What.
There is literally a poem about birth with the line baby out peace out.
There is a poem where instead of saying "think," they say "cognitively reminisce." Is Nico friends with Gwyneth Paltrow?
They love meaningless alliteration ("majoritively masculine," "pussy powered conjured country" YES THAT IS ONE ACTUAL LINE AS WRITTEN), slant rhymes ("gin rummied, taking money"), and placing words out of order for no fucking reason ("tables round," "lobes superior and inferior") or without qualifiers and articles ("relationship toxic").
And the content? JFC. Every page is written as an ode to something: body parts, planets, astrological signs, bodily functions, what the fuck ever. They're so literal, it's almost painful to read sometimes (other times it's friggin' hilarious). But Nico also manages to let us know that they think tampons should be free, that women should be allowed to go around topless, that circumcision is bad, that they like the smell of armpits, and that their penis has a birthmark on it.
I've not paid much attention to the organization of this review in an attempt to be just as free-flowing and uncaring and full of BS as this book was, but looking back, there's more logic here than in this book. And did you notice how repetitive some of my wording is getting? All of it is repetition all of it is repetition all of it is repetition.
If you bought this, I'm sorry. Get high and read passages out loud to your friends. Give it to someone you hate as a gift. Use it to balance out the shaky leg of an uneven table. I don't know. But please don't read it. The world is bad enough as it is... save yourself.
But this? This is not poetry. It's garbage. It's bullshit sound games and stoner word associations.
I should have known I was in for a fucking trip when the introduction literally said, "This book has one of the greatest titles of all time." Oh, and also, "I can promise there is real, direct from source alchemy present on every single page." Dude. What.
There is literally a poem about birth with the line baby out peace out.
There is a poem where instead of saying "think," they say "cognitively reminisce." Is Nico friends with Gwyneth Paltrow?
They love meaningless alliteration ("majoritively masculine," "pussy powered conjured country" YES THAT IS ONE ACTUAL LINE AS WRITTEN), slant rhymes ("gin rummied, taking money"), and placing words out of order for no fucking reason ("tables round," "lobes superior and inferior") or without qualifiers and articles ("relationship toxic").
And the content? JFC. Every page is written as an ode to something: body parts, planets, astrological signs, bodily functions, what the fuck ever. They're so literal, it's almost painful to read sometimes (other times it's friggin' hilarious). But Nico also manages to let us know that they think tampons should be free, that women should be allowed to go around topless, that circumcision is bad, that they like the smell of armpits, and that their penis has a birthmark on it.
I've not paid much attention to the organization of this review in an attempt to be just as free-flowing and uncaring and full of BS as this book was, but looking back, there's more logic here than in this book. And did you notice how repetitive some of my wording is getting? All of it is repetition all of it is repetition all of it is repetition.
If you bought this, I'm sorry. Get high and read passages out loud to your friends. Give it to someone you hate as a gift. Use it to balance out the shaky leg of an uneven table. I don't know. But please don't read it. The world is bad enough as it is... save yourself.
Read
May 7, 2018so bad,
i want to give
you less stars
for masturbating in my
face.
ug really please this is the blurst "poetry" to come out of the instapoetry movement that i have yet endured. I try not to judge the "movement" for promoting talentless hacks as artists, i try and give them merit and some are less bad than others... but really its like saying that james patterson is the same quality of writing as dostoyevsky....
i want to give
you less stars
for masturbating in my
face.
ug really please this is the blurst "poetry" to come out of the instapoetry movement that i have yet endured. I try not to judge the "movement" for promoting talentless hacks as artists, i try and give them merit and some are less bad than others... but really its like saying that james patterson is the same quality of writing as dostoyevsky....
May 15, 2018
This poetry collection was absolutely not my cup of tea. It was a bit pretentious, and those photos he added of himself were pretty distracting throughout. There were some poems in there that I really enjoyed, but overall this was not for me.
December 6, 2021
This is not the worst thing I’ve read. So it gets 2 stars. Although I’m having trouble thinking of something worse that I’ve read…
Things went south on the first page when he praised his own title. There’s no small amount of self-absorption going on here. That was the first warning. There are also photos throughout of the author/actor. I didn’t know a whole lot about him beforehand but I did some googling out of curiosity. He seems like an interesting person, if not a bit of a tool, which is evidenced in these pages.
There were lines here and there that I actually enjoyed like: “always on the prowl for enlightened ideas/even if you have a hard time savoring the kill.” I even appreciate how he organized the book into Body, Earth, Universe sections and tackled topics in each vein. It’s all a bit too literal though, too on the nose. It starts to feel like nonsense rambling with a few bright spots here and there.
Things went south on the first page when he praised his own title. There’s no small amount of self-absorption going on here. That was the first warning. There are also photos throughout of the author/actor. I didn’t know a whole lot about him beforehand but I did some googling out of curiosity. He seems like an interesting person, if not a bit of a tool, which is evidenced in these pages.
There were lines here and there that I actually enjoyed like: “always on the prowl for enlightened ideas/even if you have a hard time savoring the kill.” I even appreciate how he organized the book into Body, Earth, Universe sections and tackled topics in each vein. It’s all a bit too literal though, too on the nose. It starts to feel like nonsense rambling with a few bright spots here and there.
May 20, 2018
I just loathed every single thing about this poetry book. Every. Single. Thing.
June 17, 2018
*1.5 stars
Review also: https://enchantedbybookssite.wordpres...
Where do I start with this book?! Well, I first heard of it through Nico's instagram account, as I'm a fan of his tv series Younger, and I follow him there, when I first realized he was going to release a poetry book I decided I shoul give it a try.
Before I even attempted to read it, Nico shared on his instastories parts of his show where he reads his poems, and I must say I found those shows bad, but I still decided to give the book a try, and thought maybe the poetry written in there wasn't as bad as I thought I heard, well guess who was wrong?
I'm not gonna be that person that states that everything was bad, because not everything was, although I do admit that personally some did not made much sense, and others I just thought pretentious.
This is a very different book and I think it also shows in the overall reviews because there are so many different opinions.
I'd also like to say that this does not affect how I think of Nico and I do wish he explores the side of him that I liked in this book.
Review also: https://enchantedbybookssite.wordpres...
Where do I start with this book?! Well, I first heard of it through Nico's instagram account, as I'm a fan of his tv series Younger, and I follow him there, when I first realized he was going to release a poetry book I decided I shoul give it a try.
Before I even attempted to read it, Nico shared on his instastories parts of his show where he reads his poems, and I must say I found those shows bad, but I still decided to give the book a try, and thought maybe the poetry written in there wasn't as bad as I thought I heard, well guess who was wrong?
I'm not gonna be that person that states that everything was bad, because not everything was, although I do admit that personally some did not made much sense, and others I just thought pretentious.
This is a very different book and I think it also shows in the overall reviews because there are so many different opinions.
I'd also like to say that this does not affect how I think of Nico and I do wish he explores the side of him that I liked in this book.
April 22, 2018
Loved it!
Seriously I will admit I have neglected reading poetry for a long time. I use to read it all the time in High School & college but I fell away from it.
Well, I am so glad I picked up this poetry book by Author Nico Tortorella.
It is raw,
It is emotional,
It makes you think,
It makes you cry,
It makes you love,
It is relatable
& most of all,
It makes YOU!
I devoured reading this book during my lunch break at work. Once I started reading, I could not stop. This book affected me in a good way. I was able to relate in the feelings that Nico poured out in his words.
I was excited to attend the live reading here in NYC yesterday and be able to include this in my review.
Seeing Nico read and perform from his poetry book is something I will forever cherish.
It was an amazing experience.
The words & music he brought to life to the audience was felt throughout the room.
Everyone was memorized and clapped after each poem he read and performed.
I highly recommend seeing Nico read his poetry live if you can.
Go Get this book!
**ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review***
5 Cherries Popped
January 11, 2021
This was word vomit.
This was like a misspelled tumblr post that somehow started trending.
This was like my high school friends trying to rap.
No flow, no rhythm, just word association.
To be fair, Nico says in the introduction that they know this isn't a magnificent piece of work. It was almost like stream of consciousness writing. This poetry book is divided up into three main sections: body, earth, and universe. Each section includes poems dedicated to the main topic. It took me FOREVER to grasp one of the main aspects of the book, all of it is you. Since each poem is almost like an ode to the title, when Nico mentions "you" in the poem, they are actually referring to the title. Which literally did not make sense to me until I set the book down for a few hours.
Now the writing does get better as the book goes on, but it is not good by any means. There were a few poems that gave me hope for the rest of the book but that was quickly dashed on the next page.
While I didn't love Nico's poetry book, I absolutely adored their autobiography, Space Between.
This review and more can found at A Reader's Diary!
This was like a misspelled tumblr post that somehow started trending.
This was like my high school friends trying to rap.
No flow, no rhythm, just word association.
To be fair, Nico says in the introduction that they know this isn't a magnificent piece of work. It was almost like stream of consciousness writing. This poetry book is divided up into three main sections: body, earth, and universe. Each section includes poems dedicated to the main topic. It took me FOREVER to grasp one of the main aspects of the book, all of it is you. Since each poem is almost like an ode to the title, when Nico mentions "you" in the poem, they are actually referring to the title. Which literally did not make sense to me until I set the book down for a few hours.
Now the writing does get better as the book goes on, but it is not good by any means. There were a few poems that gave me hope for the rest of the book but that was quickly dashed on the next page.
While I didn't love Nico's poetry book, I absolutely adored their autobiography, Space Between.
This review and more can found at A Reader's Diary!
April 1, 2019
I really tried to love this one, but I just couldn't. It lacks coherence. Half of the time I am lost with what most of the poems here are trying to convey. I am pretty sure some of the words in here don't exist. It was a mixture of random words arranged in a paragraph and ta-daa you have a poem. Not a wonder I found a hard time finishing it. Would you believe I started reading this April 2018? Wow I have been reading it for a year! A year!
May 23, 2024
While there were a few poems that didn't hit their mark, the others were great! A few made me cry, a few inspired me (both in life and for writing my characters), and a few made me chuckle to myself. This was a good, light read and has given me the motivation to read more!
July 5, 2021
I'm sorry, but it's really awful. Also, you don't have to add your pictures in almost every page; it's distracting.
August 13, 2020
This was a very different type of poetry style than I’m used to but I enjoyed it because of the different vibes it has. It’s divided into 3 sections; Body, Earth and Universe and some of the poems are a very interesting way of looking at things.
June 19, 2018
Quick read. I loved all the poems. It comes in handy for motivational quotes and what living actually means.
November 12, 2020
Criminally pretentious
January 11, 2022
It’s a cool concept for a poetry collection, but I think he spread himself thin over too many big topics and therefore didn’t feel very personal. In his bio statement it says that he’s an actor and podcast host (I wasn’t familiar with him before I picked up this book) and in some of the poems he alluded to wanting to be famous one day. That combination really made this book feel like a cash grab and rather inauthentic for me.
January 12, 2022
The title says it all… All Of It Is You!
Enjoyed immensely!!
Enjoyed immensely!!
April 20, 2018
As this was my first venture out into the world of poetry, I’m not sure where to begin. Nico Tortorella is most known for being an actor and activist, and all of it is you. is the exposed side of Nico that we don’t normally see. Following an underlying storyline, this debut collection is definitely forthright, but inevitably misses the mark by coming off as slightly pretentious; which is a shame, since I’m a huge fan. Decent.
June 4, 2018
I should have know I wouldn't care for this but I thought I'd give it a shot. Well...you see, it turns out strangely enough...I'm still not a big fan of poetry. It also turns out that I PARTICULARLY don't care for Nico Tortella's poetry...at all. Apparently he's some sort of beefcake actor and apparently I'm too old to know who he is. But that's okay, because I don't care much about beefcake actors, have no desire to watch the show 'Younger', and I will sneak this into a nearby 'Little Free Library' and run like hell as fast as possible. While I have zero problems with the subject matter, "Penis" and "Vagina"(the poems, not the genitalia) I could have done without you BOTH in particular. Blee-Argh!
May 26, 2018
When I first found out that Nico Tortorella was writing a book I was so excited and I (I’m)patiently waited for it. Being loving and supporting him for so long now, I knew it was going to be brilliant. And it certainly didn’t disappointed me. I loved it it as much as I thought I would! All of these poems are touching, inspiring, and amazing. Thankful for Nico and for always continuing inspiring me with his beautiful mind, body, and soul...
Ps. Listening the audiobook narrated by Nico himself it’s a mindblowing experience. I got chills. It totally gives the words more power.
Ps. Listening the audiobook narrated by Nico himself it’s a mindblowing experience. I got chills. It totally gives the words more power.
December 8, 2018
I had high hopes for this book but as I turn its pages, I have never been disappointed in my entire life...such a waste of money. I hate to speak ill of books but this one deserves all the hate. I didn’t even finished it for I was so disgusted.
Poetry should speak to you in a very personal level, this book just don’t have it...sorry, it’s a disgrace to keep it in the same shelf with other contemporary poetry books that were able to touch my soul. It belongs to the collection of jokes section...
Please don’t read this f*cking book! It’s not even a book, it’s a complete sh*t!
Poetry should speak to you in a very personal level, this book just don’t have it...sorry, it’s a disgrace to keep it in the same shelf with other contemporary poetry books that were able to touch my soul. It belongs to the collection of jokes section...
Please don’t read this f*cking book! It’s not even a book, it’s a complete sh*t!
June 10, 2019
As with any collection of poems, there is some unevenness here, but the organization of musings is quite clever, and each piece reads like a personal letter addressed to the topic. The author’s tone is always searching and humble, with just the right amount of pensive emotion, cautious wisdom, and often sarcastic or irreverent wit. And among the pages...the occasional payoff of glitter and sparkles that seem to speak sharply and directly to the reader.
October 27, 2022
The aesthetic of this book is nothing like its contents. I had extremely high hopes for this, but I’m just completely disappointed. Although there are a few pieces that I found myself relating to, but they don’t balance how awful the rest are. Completely pretentious and lacks his own perspective and authenticity.
June 24, 2020
I know poetry it’s really personal, but I didn't like this book at all. I didn't connect with those words in any sense. All poetry it’s about a body part, insides, and outsides. Literally there’s a poem about feet, finger, body hair. Just not my kind of writing.
January 10, 2024
Do not read this is an absolute waste of time, total nonsense.
Read
June 4, 20240/5 - I’m baffled this got published. Who read this and went, “YES! Genius!”
I’m tempted to throw it in the trash.
🤽🏼♀️🗑️
I’m tempted to throw it in the trash.
🤽🏼♀️🗑️
July 22, 2024
First book I've ever read that left me disgusted at how pretentious it all was. I got suckered in by its intriguing cover, but never again will I judge a book by that alone.
July 28, 2021
U T T E R L Y B I Z A R R E
I honestly don't want to be a mean person and I don't want to spread negativity, but this poetry book is awful.
The writing is bad, I don't feel any sense of connection from the author towards the readers, the poetry is just mixed sentences with no deeper meaning at all. Everything is such a mess.
The Author is kinda narcissistic. The way he writes and describes every part of the human anatomy is utterly bizarre. He even included pictures of himself, yes, his face and body in every chapter to make the book "more aesthetic." Sorry it doesn't work that way.
This is the best example of a privileged white men living in a first world country. I must say, we deserve better.
I feel bad because this book is really expensive.
I really hope that the publishers or proofreaders double checked everything before producing this book, because producing a book for the audience takes a lot of effort (The author also mentioned that he wrote this entire book for only 45 days wtf).
Sad to say, but NOT everyone can be a "Lang Leave", "Rupi Kaur" or "Pierre Jeantry."
I will rate this book a 1 star, and the only reason he got a star is because the "cover" was really visually pleasing.
I honestly don't want to be a mean person and I don't want to spread negativity, but this poetry book is awful.
The writing is bad, I don't feel any sense of connection from the author towards the readers, the poetry is just mixed sentences with no deeper meaning at all. Everything is such a mess.
The Author is kinda narcissistic. The way he writes and describes every part of the human anatomy is utterly bizarre. He even included pictures of himself, yes, his face and body in every chapter to make the book "more aesthetic." Sorry it doesn't work that way.
This is the best example of a privileged white men living in a first world country. I must say, we deserve better.
I feel bad because this book is really expensive.
I really hope that the publishers or proofreaders double checked everything before producing this book, because producing a book for the audience takes a lot of effort (The author also mentioned that he wrote this entire book for only 45 days wtf).
Sad to say, but NOT everyone can be a "Lang Leave", "Rupi Kaur" or "Pierre Jeantry."
I will rate this book a 1 star, and the only reason he got a star is because the "cover" was really visually pleasing.
December 30, 2019
3.5* The back cover of this book describes it as 'a poetry experience like no other' and that's definitely true. I can see how this has such divided reviews, and I can understand it not appealing to a lot of people. When I started reading I didn't really know what to make of it. It's definitely weird. At times it comes off as a bit pretentious. Overall it's very much a stream-of-consciousness rant sort of style on basically all things. Specifically titled, through a logical journey, each piece is a jaring commentary on a specific thing.
I think this is the kind of work that reads like slam poetry, and reading it to yourself feels like you're missing part of it. I think this is the kind of thing that needs to be shouted at you by the author to really get it.
I clicked back and forth between ratings for this one, but I decided I enjoyed the weirdness and how unique it is, especially in the age of fluffy instagram poets, so it's a bit higher than a 3.
I'm looking forward to reading Nico's nonfiction work, because he definitively has some interesting stuff going on in that brain.
I think this is the kind of work that reads like slam poetry, and reading it to yourself feels like you're missing part of it. I think this is the kind of thing that needs to be shouted at you by the author to really get it.
I clicked back and forth between ratings for this one, but I decided I enjoyed the weirdness and how unique it is, especially in the age of fluffy instagram poets, so it's a bit higher than a 3.
I'm looking forward to reading Nico's nonfiction work, because he definitively has some interesting stuff going on in that brain.
March 26, 2022
⭐️⭐️/5 stars
So I'm sad about this review if I'm being completely honest. I wanted to love it because I strongly believe poetry is the center of creative love and feelings.
It's where I feel most comfortable when I pick up a pen myself or type away on my laptop. It's all subjective and I understand that not everyone is going to have the same takeaway.
So please don't let my review deter you from picking this one up if it calls to you.
My reasoning for giving it two stars 🌟 is mainly because I couldn't really connect with any of the poems and I felt alot of it was a title followed by word vomit that correlated with that word. You'll have to form your own opinion on that one to understand what I mean.
However, on a positive note I did have two poems that were my favorite and did hit my soul right in it's apex. Upon reviewing the book in its entirety it stood out to me that the two I loved didn't have the word vomit thing going on lol
Titled:
Children
God
Genre: poetry subjects & themes
So I'm sad about this review if I'm being completely honest. I wanted to love it because I strongly believe poetry is the center of creative love and feelings.
It's where I feel most comfortable when I pick up a pen myself or type away on my laptop. It's all subjective and I understand that not everyone is going to have the same takeaway.
So please don't let my review deter you from picking this one up if it calls to you.
My reasoning for giving it two stars 🌟 is mainly because I couldn't really connect with any of the poems and I felt alot of it was a title followed by word vomit that correlated with that word. You'll have to form your own opinion on that one to understand what I mean.
However, on a positive note I did have two poems that were my favorite and did hit my soul right in it's apex. Upon reviewing the book in its entirety it stood out to me that the two I loved didn't have the word vomit thing going on lol
Titled:
Children
God
Genre: poetry subjects & themes
July 4, 2021
I actually really love this book.I read it with such low expectations because of the mixed reviews. But as I started it, I just can’t stop flipping the pages... it’s one of the most vulnerably-honest-poetry-book I’ve ever read. At first I was so curious why Nico put his pictures into his collection... which I instantly concluded that it will ruin the poetry as being ‘mysterious’ itself. “This book is the realest work I’ve ever created. It represents more of me than anything I’ve put into the world.” But in reading the introduction, it is clear that this poem is completely personal— which means it all comes from the very perspective of the author. Also, what made me appreciate this poetry book more is that it didn’t only focuses on one aspect but in wide dimension— the merkaba. It relates to family, sex and love.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews