the perks of solitude: by caitlin kelly

by Caitlin Kelly

i’ve come to the conclusion that i’ll never stop writing. even if my pen ink runs dry or my phone loses battery, i always find a way to scribble my nonsense somewhere. after the teenage years of my life. as a seventeen-year-old girl that has no idea what she’s doing anymore, i’m deciding to format all my works into yet another book. i don’t think my writing will be stopped. even if i acquire writer's block, i write about not having anything to write about. there’s always something to write. there’s always something to say. i could write poetry books my whole life and maybe… i will. this is the journey in the next chapter of my life. i moved out, became an individual and learned too much, too quickly. i only have room to grow.

Genres: Poetry

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2021

Reviews

[Helena (helenareadsxx) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great poems in here, would suggest checking it out!

[Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?] · Rating 4 out of 5]

when i think of me
i think of the princess with the
wandering mind
that couldn't be taken back into
the realities of losing her knight

trapped again
in the cursed tower
of her thoughts and demons

[Asra]

This book was gifted to me by a very dear friend and this made it even more memorable ;))

[Vesta Croy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Miss. Kelly

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I also would like to extremely thank you for reminding me that I am not alone. I enjoy your poetry so much. The three works were so hard to put down!

[Joyce Shalom · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like the author thought she did something but it wasn’t there. Reminded me of a cheesy tumblr post. But there were a few lines that designated with my heart. If you have kindle unlimited it’s free so it doesn’t hurt to read it but I would never recommend someone to spend money on this book

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some thoughts are better written than said, and this book is an exact outlet from that. Some peoms only being one sentence and hitting the right feelings is an art form I absolutely love. Nothing but that one sentence is enough sometimes

[Ara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[nayezi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked that there was an introduction to each chapter: this allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the whole. I also liked most of the poems and often found them to be quite moving.

[Emma Shumaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh. Yes. Caitlin Kelly has to be one of my favorite poets ever.

I mean holy crap.

"the anxiety of my past
is flooding me

*do you want me or my body?*"

Her writing displays true emotions, not just a little bit of feelings. She puts everything into her writing and God bless her for staying strong. This woman has been to Hell and back.

In this book, she writes poetry about her rape, former relationships, love, heartbreak, depression, anxiety and so much more. I'm always skeptical about starting a poetry book since I don't know if they always will keep my attention, but this one did. Right away I could tell that reading this was the right thing to do.

The poetry written here speaks to me. It rattles me to the core. Her words slice through skin and bone. It's amazing how much some words on paper can show you and make you feel.

We explore Kelly's 'planet'. Her planet is where she resides and keeps herself. Like where she locks away her true emotions and things she feels like she can't say. She only lets someone in if they are truly special. I love this analogy with all my heart. It is so beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time. Everything on her planet resembles something; the meteors, the craters, the rings. It all has meaning.

I loved this book and anyone who reads it should too. This book isn't meant for the popular girls or the frat boys; it's meant for the people with trauma or the people who struggle mentally everyday.

"loving yourself looks good on you." -Caitlin Kelly

[mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m terrified of disappointing others, but i’m okay with disappointing myself.

I always have a rather difficult time rating and reviewing poetry collections, because I just feel like poetry is something so subjective. It either makes you feel something or it doesn’t.
I debated for quite a while whether this particular collection was a two or three star read for me. I ultimately decided on the latter for this reason: Some time ago, I read another one of Kelly’s poetry collection, The Words I Wish I Said (published in 2018, I believe), which I unfortunately ended up giving only one star. Whilst I was deeply touched by the topics she wrote about (including her own experience of sexual assault), I just felt like her writing style wasn’t really fleshed out and consequently most of the included poems read rather ”clunky“, I guess?
However, in my opinion, the perks of solitude shows obvious improvement in her writing. The poems as a whole seem more ”organic“, thus also making it easier to really get into the emotional state she must have been in whilst writing them and allowing you to connect with her words on a deeper level. I still think that there are some things she could improve on (e.g. avoiding making different poems in the same collection sound too similar), but at the same time, such rapid refinement of her craft simply must be applauded. I believe that with time she could become a great poet, and I definitely do look forward to reading more from her in the future!

[Carpe Natem]

Again one look at the cover and it says everything you need. I found one poem on google images and I can almost guarantee that all of them are just as bad if not worse. There are maybe perhaps 5-10 reasonable lines throughout the entirety of the book but that’s a generous assumption, though I haven’t read it and won’t. And usually those “good” lines are pure luck it shows no skill on part of the author. Though I am no poetry expert, the ability to tell good poetry from bad poetry should be pretty intuitive. These rupi Kaur inspired piles of trash are absolute literary tragedies and usually you can tell just by a small sample size (I.e, 1-2 pages) how the whole rest of the book will be represented in terms of its horrible quality.

[E M I L I A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it was a really nice book, that I enjoyed reading it.

It has wonderful poems and a lot of deeper thoughts that I think no one would accepted out loud. But that’s the beauty in poetry, the fact that allow us as writers and lector’s to feel the feelings that in our reality we deny or are ashamed of <3

I think it was kind of sad, I was really hoping to read something more cheerful but then I remembered the title of the book and I erase my hopes 😅

But besides that I really enjoyed the book. It has really good poems inside, so totally recommend :)

Xoxo 💋

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5
This is a good poetry book that deals with heavy topics like rape, anxiety and depression. I did like the poems and some of them were really great, but I felt like a lot things were often repeated instead of writing something new. Moreover, I would have wished for more drawings that supported the poems.

[fefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was honestly so amazing yet so heartbreaking and touching. It hit home so many times, literally cried to this book like 3 times it’s disgusting. But it honestly made me feel so much less alone and I thank caitlin for that. Her book was a 10/10 and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s into poetry!!

[Maui Rochell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title caught me into reading it because I love solitude and I want to know what are the perks of it through this poetry. I am a bit surprised to see that it's more on about love, getting over with someone and kind of less about the act of solitude itself so I have mixed feelings about the book. But I'm still interested to read her other works too!

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I loved reading this book. I read.it very quickly, while at the same time feeling everything the author had felt because I too have felt these same emotions at one time or another in my lifetime.

[ele (taylor’s version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I knew i started falling for you when all the poems i read started to be true”. The poems are beautiful, but a little 'messed up', there was no specific topic. I didn't even like the subdivision, but I recommend it.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

so relatable.

[Josselyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! it does have some hard topics that she experienced.

[Lindsay Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5⭐️ this shit was so good and it was 300 pages amazing☺️ I cried lol

[Laura Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really good, and it's so relateble that it made me cry. Idk how but the auther describes my emotions better than i do

[Dearbhla]

‘Loving yourself looks good on you’

[zimtyreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it very much and some really touched my soul🫀🗡

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a beautiful book! It is amazingly written and very intimate.

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

میپرستمش واقعا،
بعد خوندن کتاب معروف و ترند کترین کلی،
واقعا انتظار یه دیسپوینتمنت دیگ داشتم ولی
شاهکار بود انصافا،
غرقشم!

[Alycia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Angela Pastolero · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK WAS ON THE SPOT!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Sienna]

dnf 57%

[Rei · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Binge reading stories · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was relatable