A beautiful collection! A little like blud and a little like crush, though not as sophisticated or fully realized a voice as McKibbens or Siken. It's a lovely, lonely meditation on mental illness, queer yearning, and familial trauma. The poems on depression particularly sing.

Intense, imaginative, impactful and deeply personal, this beautifully presented collection of poems focuses on the effects on mental health from a range of issues, including sexuality, body image, eating disorders, alcoholism and grief, resonating with struggles we may have faced and opening a window deep into the stigma and shame surrounding anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Skilfully crafted but inherently raw, the collection resembles an autobiography, and the poems span a variety of inventive styles, including some that can be read both forwards and backwards, and some that can be read separately or merged together, creating three different versions.

Emotional and thought-provoking, not an easy read in terms of subject matter, but definitely worth the effort.

This collection of poetry felt very personal and honest, like I was reading straight from Roche’s diary, and touched on a wide variety of subject matter from alcoholism, homophobia, eating disorders, and mental health. I really enjoyed how varied the topics were and it really added to the personal feeling I got from reading this. The collection felt more about him than about a topic or idea and I really liked that.

My favourite poems were the ones where there were two poems side by side that could be read separately or as one, allowing for three distinct readings. This was an idea I wish was explored more and was the highlight of this collection for me.

Sadly, there were only a handful of poems that I really liked and that really touched me. Some of the poems felt quite dull and uninteresting and didn’t resonate with me as much as I expect from poetry. But that could be the very personal style it was written in, where the author called back to very specific things in his life such as singers. Personally, I prefer to few more connected to the writing and I didn’t feel very connected to a lot of the poems in this book. However, I can completely understand how this collection of poetry could really resonate with others and I would still highly recommend it to others.

WoW, this one was hard to read. Not because it was bad. But because of
1. Reading slump
2. Bad place mentally
But this book is great. I mean, yes the topics are hard to read. It has a lot of triggers. But it’s really great.
A book about being queer and mentally ill. A book with pop culture references.
The poems are beautiful and strong
Thank you, NetGalley for the e-Arc of the book.
TW: Death of a parent, Alcoholism, Eating Disorder, Panic attack

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A lot of people know Patrick Roche. He’s incredibly successful and reading this collection it’s not at all surprising to see why.

Every 40 Seconds is a verrrry famous spoken word poem, but it has never lost its impact for me so I was excited to read these others. And I really enjoyed them.

And that feels weird to say, because the title clearly indicates the kind of topics that all of the poems surround (TW for eating disorders, self harm, addiction, homophobia, grief, domestic violence, suicidal ideation and panic attacks—this one is pretty visceral, the poem is literally called “Instructions on Having the Perfect Panic Attack”… and is fantastic), but I’ve never seen poetry quite like this, spoken word or otherwise. Albeit it’s a very different experience reading them to listening to him perform them on Youtube (something I immediately did upon finishing).

I thought they’d be difficult to take in, but I didn’t feel sad, just surprisingly understood. I had to stop multiple times to reread and reread, thinking constantly how clever so much of it was. A gem, and so many of the poems will stay with me, just like 40 Seconds has, I’m sure—“Fairy Tale” and “Couples Therapy” especially.

A lot of people know Patrick Roche. He’s incredibly successful and reading this collection it’s not at all surprising to see why.

Every 40 Seconds is a verrrry famous spoken word poem, but it has never lost its impact for me so I was excited to read these others. And I really enjoyed them.

And that feels weird to say, because the title clearly indicates the kind of topics that all of the poems surround (TW for eating disorders, self harm, addiction, homophobia, grief, domestic violence, suicidal ideation and panic attacks—this one is pretty visceral, the poem is literally called “Instructions on Having the Perfect Panic Attack”… and is fantastic), but I’ve never seen poetry quite like this, spoken word or otherwise. Albeit it’s a very different experience reading them to listening to him perform them on Youtube (something I immediately did upon finishing).

I thought they’d be difficult to take in, but I didn’t feel sad, just surprisingly understood. I had to stop multiple times to reread and reread, thinking constantly how clever so much of it was. A gem, and so many of the poems will stay with me, just like 40 Seconds has, I’m sure—“Fairy Tale” and “Couples Therapy” especially.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book personally wasn’t for me. I didn’t connect with the writing or resonate with the themes. I think this would be a book suited to some people, it just wasn’t for me.

This is an impressive collection of poetry. The themes are heavy and so very personal, and I think it is admirable that someone can make such beautiful art about something so close to home.

Patrick Roche doesn't shy away from difficult topics, the discomfort, the hurt. Instead, through beautiful prose, he addresses them head on with refreshing yet heartbreaking vulnerability. It works though, his words will stay in my mind for a long time.

I haven't read poetry in some time so I think it speaks volumes to how incredible A Socially Acceptable Breakdown is since it propelled to find more queer poetry books after finishing it (and rereading a bunch of poems because I just had to).

Thank you to Button Poetry and NetGalley for a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I'd like to thank button poetry for sending me an arc of the book through NetGalley for an honest review.

If you want a collection of poems that don't sugarcoat strong themes and presents all these themes in a beautiful way this is the right collection for you. They were moving and some of them have been added to my favorites collection instantly. Definitely, something that will stay in your head for hours after you've finished it and leave you wanting to go back to read the ones you loved again and again.

¡Patrick!
OMG
I absolutely loved it.
This book made me reflect in my life. My family, my sexuality, my friends, and more.
100% recommended.

I received a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review thanks to NetGalley and IBPA.

This is a very in depth collection of poetry. It’s very thought provoking.

I personally didn’t connect with any of the poems but I did find it interesting to read another persons perspective on their life.

I recommend looking at the trigger warnings before reading this book.

I personally think this is one of the best poetry collections i’ve read recently. Patrick touches on many sensitive topics, especially from his own experiences, but it is easy to see yourself in his words. Such a thoughtful collection - some of my favourite quotes include:
“I commit to myself and I am committing to myself and I am committing myself”, “Heaven is a Pangea where only those who want distance have it. Hell is a fault line”, “Still, there are laws of physics in this bathroom that I haven’t proven but that I believe no matter how much I know I shouldn’t”, “The most tangible joy of all, of course, always queer” and the whole of the poem Icarus!

A beautifully written piece of poetry which hooked me from the start. I loved the flow of this writing and the overal messages that were shared within these pages.

This is a great book. The author captures the pain and feelings around depression, panic attacks, and death so beautifully and heartbreakingly. I think this does a great job of not romanticizing these feelings but of explaining them and humanizing them for those who may not be familiar. It leaves you with things to think about and it will definitely stick with me.

What a beautifully raw collection of poems. This book includes some heavy content such as mentions of suicide, self harm, eating disorders & other mental health illnesses & triggering subjects. So many quotes stood out to me and spoke to me, as someone who has similar mental illnesses i felt seen and acknowledged. would recommend x

This book of poetry hit me emotionally. There was parts I deeply connected with and made me think of past experiences. I enjoyed this so much! 5* rating from me.

4.5 stars

A superb collection of free verse poetry, thematically centered on queerness, dealing with mental illness, religion, family, & hope for the future. Such great word pictures & analogies. This book resonated a lot with me.

[What I liked:]

•A few poems are written in side-by-side columns, where each column can be read by itself, or you can read line by line across both columns to get three separate, yet linked, readings. I really liked this format! Very creative & well executed.

•The content is varied, personal, vulnerable, pushes the boundaries of language & social acceptability, & voices things I’ve felt but haven’t been able to put into words. I can personally relate to the descriptions of depression, anorexia, facing homophobia, & struggling to untangle messy family relationships. The collection doesn’t get repetitive, it’s not hampered by cliché, & it’s refreshingly bold.

•The writing is quite good. The cadences, the words, the imagery; the seamless weaving together of despair & hope, of rejection & acceptance, of feeling failure pressing in & rising up in resilience. They are poems I plan to return to again.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•A few of the poems are in a format like “phrase/phrase/phrase”, with no spaces or paragraph breaks. Not trying to condemn the artistic/stylistic choices, but it was very difficult for me to read.

CW: substance abuse, mental illness (depression, anxiety, eating disorders), suicide, abusive family dynamics, homophobia

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

thTruly an amazing piece of work. The author's descriptions of mental health - the okay, the bad and how he fights it is touching and immediately recognizable. I have experienced many of the same mental health that the author describes in this book and to see what he writes and to read it and recognized it in my experiences is truly incredible.
The book is just under a hundred pages which means that I devoured in less than a day. I truly recommend this book.

An extended review of the book will be available on my blog available on Oct. 19th, 2021

Such a quick and emotional set of poetry. Really shows the experience of the writer and the emotions he went through growing up and becoming his own person