Stunning collection of poems that really connect to a deep place within. Dark but beautiful with amazing illustrations.

I really didn’t get on with this book at all. It contained more images than words. The images were black and white, very simple and had no real depth to them. Some examples include a boy and girl kissing. There were no actual poems in the collection, just one of two words shoe-horned between the images. Like the images, the words were quite simple and had no real depth. I didn’t connect with this at all.

Such a calming book to flip through. It's a quiet book. Soothing. Although it's a bit of an oxymoron when the illustrations show a person hugging cactus, hair braided into the shape of a noose, or a person sleeping in a pool of water. While the pictures may show a calming atmosphere, they also show a surprising/alarming feature you aren't expecting -- especially when paired with simple yet meaningful words and common phrases we've heard all our lives.

The graphic poetry style is amazing (a similar experience to a graphic novel). The simple words are like a soothing balm to my soul. Halfway through the book, the storyline switches to the subject of being in a loving relationship and getting to know the other person. It's certainly interesting and refreshing.

This book is for the introverted personality. For the person that's hurting and in pain. Although to be honest, some pages made me feel MORE sadness. Still, I enjoyed the creative and artistic aspect. I would read more books that are similar to this one.

Some fascinating lines:
"the daily storm in my unquiet heart"
"books are my cup of tea"
"I'm not crazy, I'm hurt"

Recommended for: Adults
Suitable for: Ages 18 & up
Contains sad thoughts, mature themes, and nudity.

This review is based off of a NetGalley ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this book?

What I Liked About This Book:

- The illustrations are beautiful,
- also they are largely built on visual puns which I adore.
- There is a dark/macabre sense of humour.
- Very emotional.
- The images are fascinating & at times alarming.
- Every page spread invites you to sit with the image & think about your own relationship to the story it's telling.

What I Didn't Love:

- I was expecting more diversity than I got. The bodies are just all very thin & follow general standards of beauty. I interact primarily with the work of fat or inclusive illustrators so I was disappointed. I don't think Kim did this on purpose or with ill intent. But the procession of thin, white, femme bodies pushed me out of the story.
- It was also upheld certain hetero/binary values, especially in the one section. Again, I don't think this was Kim's intent, it's just something I'm more aware of now & don't love when I come across it.
- Some of the imagery was uncomfortably sexual, which I'm sure won't bother most people, just my sex-repulsed asexual bias. I think many allosexuals will relate & enjoy the imagery, I happened to not be the target demographic.
- One of the images is of a Dreamcatcher which I Did Not Love. I know they are mainstream, but they don't really belong to us. They are Ojibwe. They are sacred. I would love if more people stood up against Indigenous cultural appropriation so I don't casually come across it regularly.

A LOT to like, definitely glad I read/visually ate this book, but I'm a bit on the fence about whether or not I'd recommend it. If I did I would recommend it to people with a couple of these caveats.

I really liked this and thought it was unique. I wish it had been a little meatier. I feel like I read it in 30 minutes. But all in all, interesting and insightful.

Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of Starry Night, Blurry Dreams in exchange for an honest review.

Starry Night, Blurry Dreams by Henn Kim is an exquisite piece of art.

The illustrations and captions perfectly fit the expression "a picture is worth a thousand words". The drawings have a heart wrenching melancholy that is both beautiful and mournful. Emotional and intense, this collection of poetry and artwork would be a wonderful gift for any artistic soul in your life.

I give this book five stars for a lovely dark aesthetic and a timeless expression of love, loss, and learning to live through the pain of human existence.

Thanks to Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange of an honest review

I wouldn't say that the content of the book is poetry, but, despite that, I really enjoyed reading it and seeing the illustrations in it.

*A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

A dark, moody, and thought-provoking book with elements of inspiration and encouragement thrown in. I loved the unusual yet beautiful illustrations and the black and white color scheme; it added to the moodiness of the book. This is the type of book I would keep on my coffee table and pick up when I felt overwhelmed or give to a friend when they were going through a tough time and needed a little pep talk.

This book sounded great from the cover and blurb but unfortunately I didn't get the pdf of this book.
That's why I am unable to give a proper feedback.
If it's possible can you check this issues please.
Otherwise I think this book is a nice one.

While Henn Kim's realistic illustrations characterised by clean and simple linework with repeating motifs of tea, music, cactuses, and whales is lovely, I really don't think it was markeyed well, nor do I think it fits the format of a book. 

It reminds me of artwork I'd find cute on cards and notebooks, or as social media posts (though that might be because I personally don't resonate with this type of style). The poetry isn't poetry, but what I'd call witty titles or descriptions, which have their own merits but marketing it as poetry only achieves misdirected marketing.

I was really looking forward to this, the cover is beautiful and it sounded like my cup of tea. However, the application to read this title is absolutely horrible and blocked out nearly all of the words. I was only able to make it several pages in when I pretty much formed my opinion.

The illustrations are beautiful, and a way to capture emotion and feelings without using words, but as others have said they're followed by captions or descriptions of the pictures we saw or were about to see. This did absolutely nothing for me. I thought the illustrations were cool, but that's about it. Poetry for me is about feeling something, evoking a feeling in you that either makes you hopeful or feel for the author and what they've gone through. This was just a bunch of illustrations with captions to tell you how to feel, not for you to interpret on your own.

This was essentially a DNF for me because I couldn't even read it with the application we're required to use to read it. I find that a bit unfair to the author, if we can't even read it properly, how are we supposed to review it properly?

PDF doesn't work on any reader that netgalley uses. I have downloaded multiple times in the last hour but all I get is error after it tries loading.

Unfortunately I am unable to review, as the book wouldn't download or open on any of my devices.
Stars given for front cover and description.
Nevertheless, thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley for an eARC of this book to read and review

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Starry Night, Blurry Dreams by Henn Kim is an illustrated poetry collection by a South Korean illustrator. Between short captions are black-and-white illustrations depicting female bodies in states of sadness, something mutilated (but in an artful way) or cut off by other various household objects. According to the description, this book "navigates subjects like mental health, trauma, loneliness, and loss."

Overall, Starry Night, Blurry Dreams is a collection of poetry and illustrations with plenty of original ideas. One highlight of this book was the absolutely amazing artwork. It reminded me of the type of artwork that I would see fromn Tumblr-famous poets like Rupi Kaur. This book made me think about a lot of things, and it provoked an emotional response from me.. If you're intrigued by the description, you can check out this book when it comes out in March!

I wasn't able to download & read the collection of poems. Which is a shame, since it sounded really like something I would be into.
The cover is stunning though and I'm sure the rest of the book is as well.

Having never seen Henn Kim's art, I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty in its simplicity. The author does a great job of utilizing the big space to create profound imagery without needing to fill it with details, or making it look like a small doodle in a wide white page.

Although I can see how many illustrations might speak about a certain feeling of loneliness, I think the claim that the book is about love, mental health and loss is a bit of a reach. It is, deep down, a collection of cute, slightly repetitive illustrations with funny or gotcha captions. There's only so many times you can make the same comparison to hugging a cactus or drowning in a glass of water.

In the end, it is very much the type of graphic book that one can expect from Andrews McMeel Publishing and it fits wonderfully in the catalogue. I'd say it's most similar to Fangs by Andersen, and a step above some other recent releases, like Love Is Enough by Zanatelli.

3.5 stars

The artstyle is stunning and I love it so much especially so since it's mixed with plants, flowers, space and moon (though some are sexually suggestive). My only criticism is that the captions feel more titles for the art and was hoping for a little more.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

This book was a wonderful experience of art, both written and visual. The illustrations are beautiful and out of the box. The words are short and to the point. Neither can stand without the other and I think that's what made this book such an experience to read. I only wish they gifted us with more words for each illustration.

*3.5 stars*

I think what I've discovered is that graphic poetry isn't for me! When I saw the phrase, I expected art accompanying poems. That's not what this is. This is essentially a collection of illustrations with one to six words next to them.

And the illustrations are lovely! Some of them really did connect! In particular I enjoyed the reoccurring theme of plants, and especially cacti to visualize pain and living with that pain. However, I will say a lot of these were rather repetitive and not particularly deep, just some neat little drawings that could've been put up on social media.

Admittedly I'm a little put off because I expected something different, but I imagine that would be something cute to have just as a physical copy you keep around to flip through to look at art when you're bored.

Visual Poetry is something I haven't really encountered before, so I don't have any point of reference, but this was... pretty damn beautiful. Seriously, the symbolism and metaphors and... I don't even know what to say. Just that it was beautiful and meaningful and I kinda want some of the pieces as tattoos.