spiraling

by kyle fasel, Nicole Jurincie (Illustrator)

This is the second poetry book from Real Friends' bassist and lyricist, Kyle Fasel.

Genres: Poetry

190 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2021

Reviews

[fyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

i swear to god you could put anything kyle writes in front of me wether it be a poem or song lyrics or just a to do list without his name on it and i’ll recognize it as his words immediately.

[Catherine Hayden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love real friends so of course I had to give this a try. I liked that some of these were lyrics on their new album, but I think that especially when read all together, they got a bit repetitive and seemed almost over done? this is a lot of just my taste though. I definitely didn’t give the ones towards the end as fair a chance because I was trying to finish by midnight lol so take that into consideration. I still love real friends but this book didn’t really do it for me unfortunately :(

[nash [larrythelatypus] · Rating 2 out of 5]

i need to preface this with that it's awesome that the author published a collection of very real, raw, deep feelings and emotional situations, this is a window to the authors soul, that's vulnerable and awesome and art existing is awesome. if you enjoy this that's awesome, I am happy for you!

however ,,,,

it's not even a little bit for me; this is very much Instagram rupi kaur core, seeming to say something while really saying nothing, repetitive, predictable, and flat
how many times can we only describe autumn leaves as just red. yellow. orange. how many times are we sitting in a car or looking in a mirror, they all follow the theme of spiraling but I felt nothing of the expanse of what that could be because the contents of each poem was a tight little circle of using the same words and similes
I found a few that just seemed like things my therapist would tell me that I marked, and after reading the one that was just lyrics from Tell Me You're Sorry (amazing live, btw!) I couldn't help but reading anything that rhymes in a pop punk singing voice. this book released before the song, I wonder the timeline of it all.

anyway I'm going to keep my book, it's a signed copy and I still think it's awesome that a band had a poetry book at a merch table. Real Friends was awesome in St. Louis! 💫

[Cassie O · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought on a whim while seeing one of my favorite bands. This book is brutally real, strikingly heartfelt, and remarkably empathetic. I’ve felt many of the emotions Kyle writes about and just never put them to words as beautifully as he has. To read a book of modern poetry, adding notes in the margins, highlighting stanzas, adding hearts when an entire poem just feels RIGHT, is something I haven’t done in a long time. Fantastically and beautifully written.

[Ashley Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like getting stabbed in the heart
this one's for you

[Elle Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems like a deeply personal piece of work for the author but it seems to have fallen on my flat ears. I sensed what Fasel was trying to convey, and I felt this was a personal collection for him. The poems are relatively disorganised, which I don’t mind hugely, to be honest. I think it covers themes of loss and grief well, but these are just not something I am coping with at this point, so it didn’t hit emotionally for me at this point in time.
Also, Fasel’s style is extremely simple, with incredibly simple metaphors which makes for a good introduction to modern poetry. I did, however, prefer his first collection.