Thank you to NetGalley for the readers copy in exchange for a (very late) review.
If you feel any connection with mental health, the trappings of being femme, body perception/positivity, and being BIPOC you’ll probably find something in this book that resonates with you. I was really taken with the poems on white feminism personally. It was really cathartic. I’ve said it a million times but OwnVoices works are crucial and this is a great example why.
If you enjoy poetry by Amanda Lovelace, Rupi Kaur and Jazz Money you can go for this one as well.

Personally, this book just wasn’t for me. I love poetry, however, I couldn’t bring myself to finish this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for making this available..

I couldn’t connect with this book at all, it just felt like the author was trying to hard and half of the poems didn’t make sense to me.

Maybe I’ll pick it up again later down the line but I just didn’t feel it

Embarrassingly, this is the first book of poetry I've read by Rachel Wiley and I am so happy to have read this book. I love her writing style, humor and the unapologetic way she takes up space. I feel that so many people can relate to her and hopefully take away from this experience reading this book that it's okay to be themselves and take up space as who they are. I am grateful for her honesty and willingness to share experiences. I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about this book because I found myself just wanting to read more after each poem.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

damn, rachel wiley strikes again. her poetic candor always blows me away.

my experience with this particular collection was a bit unusual, because i read the first half at the beginning of the year, until my egalley expired earlier than expected. i wasn't able to acquire another copy until the end of the year, and by that point i thought i should start again at the beginning.

oddly enough, i enjoyed the first poems more the second time around. it's comforting to vaguely remember where things are going, and i think these poems all packed an even harder punch the second time around. it makes me think i should reread poetry more often!

in revenge body wiley explores familiar themes of family trauma, biracial identity, fatness, survival, grief, queerness, and heartbreak.

a few of my favorites:

"what we were," which is about the loss of childhood purity and loss of family. loss of the safe haven of young sibling bonds, especially after an angry adulthood severs them.

"red herring" and "the way back," which are both clever, heartbreaky, and full of intense imagery about an ex.

"multimedia portrait of the artist's grandma," which is also rich in imagery, made of a series of images that evoke wiley's grandmother. i can feel her essence through this poem.

"in which two women go over a cliff and retell to live about it," which is a hopeful spin on thelma and louise, which is so welcome. after so many painful poems, i love the sharp feeling of victory in this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review. All quotes are from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Really sharp, biting poetry. Not as unique a voice as others by the same publisher, but still a very worthwhile read.

3 stars

Unflinching reflections on mental illness, body image issues, & fierce resilience. While some of the poems are not to my taste due to writing style, I very much appreciated the content & the poet’s approach to life.

[What I liked:]

•These poems have many vulnerable & relatable depictions of struggles with both mental illness & ADHD. As a person who deals with both, it was refreshing to find poetry that deals with these kind of subjects so unabashedly & openly. We need more voices speaking about stigmatized issues like these.

[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Many of the poems felt long & wordy to me. I prefer poetry that’s spare, focused, & more concise. This is a stylistic preference, though, & I’m sure other readers will like it more than me.

CW: sexism, mental illness, suicidal ideation

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

I would *love* to see Rachel Wiley live because I can see how these poems would crackle with electricity when performed. But on the page they are a little bombastic, and over the top. Good, but not in their element.

Loved this.
Reminded me of Rupi Kaur.
Explores loss, anger, hate, body image and other difficult topics.
Very raw and honest.

I appreciated the writing style and the topics within the poem collection, especially the ones about body image issues, mental health struggles, and white feminism. I especially enjoyed how she called out white feminists for not being inclusive enough and stated that intersectional feminism is the real kind of feminism, which I can get behind. As someone who is a queer woman of color, I can relate to most of her poems, with the exception of those discussing her experiences as a Black woman. I am an Asian woman and I love the title of the poem collection and how Revenge Body didn't just talk about getting a revenge body and was more holistic.

I always struggle with reviewing poetry because it truly is such a personal medium.

With that, I did enjoy this collection. I've been a fan of Rachel Wiley since discovering Button Poetry videos on YouTube; I think those with that experience will enjoy the collection a bit more - only because you can more easily hear the author's voice and style in your head while reading.

This collection looks at identity, body image and weight, and mental health, and does not with wit, thought, and emotion.

I've read my fair share of poetry in the last couple of years and I've enjoyed the majority of what I read. This one was no exception. It was a candid, raw and honest take on the author's personal experiences with mental health, being overweight, being queer and more.

My only crituque was that I felt some of the poems dragged on longer than necessary and lost some of its impact as a result

However, I connected with a lot of the poems in here and I would love to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an a-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not usually a big poetry person, but overall I quite enjoyed this collection. I would definitely read more of Wiley's work based on her writing here.

This was honestly not my cup of tea, but I know a lot of people will really enjoy this style of poetry and the subject matters that are discussed. I like to really relate to and resonate with the poetry that I read, and I just didn’t get that from this collection. Big thanks to NetGalley & Rachel Wiley for giving me the opportunity to review Revenge Body early!

Este poemario fue distinto a todos los poemarios que leí, tiene bastante diversidad y no se centra en un solo tema.
Definitivamente lo recomiendo si leiste a Amanda Lovelace o Rupi Kaur, tiene algunos poemas que son family friendly pero pasan rápido. Aun asi, podes conectarcon lo que lees.

Not saying I didn’t enjoy this book, but it was not my favorite. I think this book gave a lot of information and good characters, but I cant help feel like something was missing. Whatever it was, it made the whole book seem off to me. Overall I did enjoy the book, and would probably recommend it to people

I couldn't get into the poetry in this collection. It isn't a bad collection per se, just not for me unfortunately!

Wiley’s collection of poems is very interesting ranging from heartbreak to feminism to the delicate relationship between her and her mother. I especially loved the one about Intersectional Feminism/White Feminism. Wiley says it like it is. While some of her poems didn’t quite resonate with me, I think this book has a little something for everyone.

I always really love Rachel Wiley’s poetry so when I had the Opportunity to read this ARC through NetGalley I couldn’t resist it.
I found so many poems relatable and I can’t wait to purchase a physical copy to mark up and highlight and take notes in. I loved it!