I have a feeling Rachel Wiley is going to be a name we start hearing about all over social media and bookish communities. I can already predict that her collection of poetry in the book Revenge Body is going to be very popular, this will be a top book of the year, I just know it! So many people are going to connect with Rachel's raw and open emotionally charged writing. Revenge Body is probably the most relatable book of poetry I have ever come across, dealing with a multitude of personal issues, race, sexual orientation, body image and mental health. I highly recommend everyone get a copy or two of Rachel's book, give one to a friend this book makes a perfect gift!

If your mother disowns her own mother,
and her mother disowns her mother before that,
and you then disown your own mother, is it a grudge
or a genetic trait?

Rachel Wiley has discussed a lot of personal experiences in here like fatphobia, body image , dysfunctional families, abuse, race, loss and mental illness. The lines are very personal and filled with emotion. But, this style was not for me and I didn't like the execution.

A great collection of poems about mental health, body positivity, being female and being Black/biracial. I connected with some more than others but appreciated the unusual structure and formatting of the poetry. Definitely a great #ownvoices book sure to resonate with a lot of people. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy.

“Revenge Body” by Rachel Wiley is a poetry collection that explores anger (righteous and not), Black identity, body image, loss, want, and mental health. I haven’t read Wiley’s other works, so I was going blindly into this.
⠀⠀⠀
This book contains Wiley’s raw emotions and all of them felt so deeply personal to her. That’s why in my opinion, it’s hard to ‘rate’ a poetry collection bc it’s more on the subjective side of literature, and whether I like it or not, it’s entirely based on the relatability if compared to my own experience. So note that my review is completely subjective, and you may have a totally different opinion. The writing is beautiful, and tbh, as English is not my first language, it’s harder for me to understand this poetry collection and I had to read some of them several times before understanding the deeper meaning.
⠀⠀⠀
Some of the poetry hit so close to home and I felt a very deep connection to, like “Revenge Body”, “Executive Functioning”, “What Brings Me in Today”, “Dreadful Sorry, Clementine” (this one was so painful to read), and “Peaches”.
⠀⠀⠀
Overall, it’s an enjoyable read.

Wow. This is the best book of poetry I've ever read. There were only a couple of poems I didn't personally connect to, but the author is a wordsmith that has created such variety of poems that I found myself enjoying them all regardless. Some of the poems are extremely lyrical and enchanting whereas in contrast some are raw, bold and shocking, jerking you back to reality. The author is biracial and queer and speaks a lot about her life experiences in ways that everyone can relate to, and in ways I could never truly speak about myself as much as I'd like to. Although I don't feel the cover is exceptionally appealing the poems inside, which tell such heartfelt and heartbreaking stories, more than make up for my original skepticism of giving this a read. I highly highly recommend this poetry for anyone, but especially those like me, insecure fat girls who can see themselves represented so well.
Trigger warnings for racism, sexism, abuse, childhood abuse, trauma, ptsd, fat phobia, anxiety, depression.

If you enjoy poetry by Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace, you can go for this one as well.

Divided broadly into three sections, each section provides some personal parts of the author's experiences and feelings.

The collection is somehow bold and honest. Prepare yourself to be surprised at some parts and be shocked at some other parts. Quite enjoyable I would say.

The collection is all about speaking up and celebrating women.

Love yourself. Respect yourself. Celebrate who you are and who you are going to become.

That's the basic message I got after reading this poetry collection.

Thank you, Button Publishing Inc, for the advance reading copy.

3 stars ⭐

Some of these poems were really beautiful and some were lacking? I have no idea how to review poetry but it does discuss some important topics

A genuinely brilliant collection of poetry that is brave, empowering, and heart wrenching! Spotted with humour, I could not recommend this highly enough!

This was an engaging collection of poems that created such a visceral experience that I believed I could feel Wiley's emotion in every word. I really appreciated the way in which Wiley was able to expertly explore themes such as sexuality, body image, mental illness. I did, however, think that some pieces were stronger than others and, in contrast, seemed almost lacking, and that is why I've chosen to give this 3 stars instead of 4.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. It is important to note that poetry isn't the easiest to review or rate.

This is a short collection of poems exploring themes of identity,body image, mental health and relationships. I liked how the collection did not shy away from sensitive topics.

As with most poetry collections the quality did vary. Some felt more Instagram friendly and from a teenage girl's notes page. However others stuck with me and there were moments of brilliance especially with 'Intersectional feminism (aka actual f*****g feminism) plays the dozens with white feminism'. The collection does touch on raw emotions and was a honest portrayal of toxic relationships. With this in mind, I would say it's worth the read despite some pieces being stronger than others.

Firstly, I'd like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and Rachel Wiley for providing me an ARC of this book.
I think the poems are beautifully written and so many important topics are covered in the book. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it for poetry lovers

Hi! I’m so thankful I decided to read this beautiful work of an art! I love poetry and it’s been a while since I’ve read one with such raw emotion. I love this so much because I work in healthcare and so many of these beautiful poems stuck with me. I will never forget All The Pills I Tried Before, I would highly recommend and can’t wait to
Purchase a physical copy and add this to my collection,

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Revenge body by Rachel Wiley is a collection of poems about being queer , mental health, biracial, and a whole bunch of trauma.
I’m not a huge poetry reader but I found this collection of poetry to really resonate with me in parts and education me and inform me in others.
My personal favorite poem was “Ghost me, I’ll write your eulogy”
I enjoyed this book very much and it made me immediately pick up “Nothing is okay” by the same author.

I loved these poems. Of course no one is going to relate to every single poem in a collection (I couldn’t relate to all of them), but even the ones I couldn’t relate to, I could appreciate. I love how raw and full of talent these poems are. This is my first time reading poetry by Wiley and now I’m excited to read more! Thank you NetGalley!!

I wasn’t aware that Rachel Wiley was coming out with a new poetry book in 2022–and I also was not aware of how deeply I needed this one! Thank you Netgalley and Button Poetry for the advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

REVENGE BODY is Wiley’s third book of poetry, a fitting companion to Fat Girl Finishing School and Nothing is Okay, all of which are unapologetic in their exploration of body image, sexuality, race, trauma, relationships, and resilience. In her newest collection, the poet still claims her fatness; however, her “revenge body” is not that of a physical body , but rather the body of work itself. This revenge body feels like a rebirth. It is not vengeful, but self-assured—it’s softness is its strength. Whereas Wiley turned to humor and irreverence in previous books (like the online dating motif in Nothing is Okay) to seek poetic justice for the ways in which life has wronged her, in this book Wiley is a phoenix rising from the ashes, casting spells and taking names not by actively seeking revenge but by honoring her own tender, painful process of reinvention. Most notable in this collection are the poems directed towards her estranged and emotionally manipulative mother. It is clear that Wiley has done the work, in her own body, to process the trauma. It is also clear that the wound will still hurt. Despite it, she finds surrogate mothers, Sisters, lovers, herself, and falls back to praise—and in the end, what better form of revenge is there?

“Praise my therapist
Praise the universe and its divine clownery
Praise the chosen family who stay choosing me back
Praise the mothering in my despite it not coming from her”
(from “Praise to the Longest Night of the Year”)

This was middle of the road for me. I have enjoyed some of her other poetry, but this one missed the mark. It seemed a little outside of her normal prose. Again, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite of her works.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. "Revenge Body" is an astonishing poetry collection, which discusses numerous topics and illustrates perfectly well the almost hidden anger and desire for revenge. I connected with many of those poems as the explored themes are very important to me and I found it easy to relate. The ones I couldn't truly relate to were also very captivating and gave a lot of food for thought, so all of them were very enjoyable to read. The only drawback of this poetry collection is most probably the fact that the writing style tends to get a little bit repetitive and/or too descriptive. Some of my favourites are "Executive Functioning", "The Mother Riddle", "Questionnaire For Future Potential Partners", "Femme Fatale", "Intersectional Feminism (aka Actual Fucking Feminism) Plays The Dozens With White Feminism" and "Revenge Body". The trigger warnings include abusive families, bullying, misogyny, mental illness, racism, suicidality, eating disorders, fatphobia, trauma, grief, etc. "Revenge Body" made a huge impact on me and it was simply fascinating.

Whenever I read a poetry collection, I obviously tend to enjoy certain poems more than others. For this specific collection I seemed to connect with approximately 50% of the poems; hence the 3 stars.
Though that being said, these poems seem very personal to the author (which also might be why I didn't connect with all of them).

There was this one sentence in 'In which two women go over a cliff and retell to live about it" which stuck with me, and I desperately need it printed on a mug:
"They have not murdered any men, not literally, not yet, though they understand the need may arise"
This was one of the last poems I read before going to sleep, and it was the only thing on my mind when I woke up.

I'd definitely say it's worth the read! It's a very solid three stars from me.

What a fantastic poetry collection. Each line truly sizzles with an underlying anger that makes the writing feel alive and emotionally charged. This anger is put on display in different ways as heavy themes of mental health, queerness, feminism, Black identity, being fat, and overcoming trauma are explored, but it’s always met with a perfect amount of humor and small, fleeting glimpses of both happiness and sadness throughout, which I thought was just beautiful.

Certain lines literally took my breath away, and I also thought it was very cool how Wiley played with repetition and formatting in poems like “Bug” and “Prozac 30mg.” A few of my other favorites in this collection were “Revenge Body,” “All The Pills I Tried Before,” “Executive Functioning,” “Excuses,” and “Femme Fatale.”

I also thought a lot about the collection Blud by Rachel McKibbens (which I read earlier this year) as I read this collection, and what do you know, in the third section a beautiful poem was dedicated to her and she’s mentioned in the Acknowledgements.

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for the ARC review copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for allowing me to read an arc of this book in exchange for a honest review!

I have enjoyed Rachel’s poems for quite some time on Button Poetry’s YouTube channel. Her way with words has always captivated me. I have to admit, this collection was a nice addition to the poetry I’ve known and enjoyed by Rachel in the past.

I found some poems to fall a bit flat to my expectations (based on what I’ve watched in the past) in terms of how meaningful Rachel’s poems come across. They absolutely still had plenty of heart to them, but some felt more impactful than others.