** A copy of Starry Night, Blurry Dreams was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

Henn Kim is one of my favourite digital illustrators - I particularly love her work on Normal People. Needless to say, when I saw this ARC available, I jumped at the chance to devour it. Kim's imagination is something to behold - her illustrations of love, loss, mental health and grief are stunning! I would love prints of many of the pieces in this collection! While many might not appreciate this "graphic poetry" because it is more graphic than poetry, I welcome Kim's attempts at letting the illustrations do most of the talking.

A bit disappointed by this one. The illustrations were great but the writing was unoriginal and unnecessary.

First of all, this was described as "graphic poetry" but in actuality it was illustrations followed by a short caption. It felt more like the author was describing what we were seeing which shouldn't be the point of art.

Secondly, this felt completely disorganized. There were no sections and the author was jumping from one thing to another with no clear connections.

This felt incomplete and rushed so hoping that there will be some edits before the final project is published as the author is talented and this project looks promising.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While the illustrations are stunning, the captions accompanying the illustrations fell flat and ridiculous. They managed to lessen the depth of the illustrations.

Apologies for not being able to submit a review. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an app that was able to open this file after all! I have put in a neutral 3 stars for the purposes of NetGalley for the time being, and will adjust accordingly if I am able to find an app to open the file or a copy to read. My apologies again.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this DRC.

This is my first encounter with the highly acclaimed Henn Kim, and I'm quite intrigued.

Loss, loneliness, love...the artist conveys these themes and more in a creative, enticing way. The art style is distinct and memorable; I enjoyed the tea & bookish-themed ones. Although every piece held meaning, some were not appealing to me (not a fan of the frequent underwear incorporations/some of the symbols). I was disappointed to find what seems more like prompts than poems accompanying the illustrations. However, it's a stunning collection that I'm sure will be treasured by existing fans and others who appreciate 'reading' art.

I am very conflicted about how I feel about this book. On one hand, I love it and on the other, I don’t. Essentially I am angry at this collection and let me explain why. This book is marketed as a poetry collection when it isn’t that at all. I would describe this as an art collection. The artwork with stunning it gave you all the feels. However, the single sentences placed on the pages are simply not poetry. It was more like quotes or affirmations. My rating for this book is a reflection of being a critique of the genre and not of the enjoyment of this book.

N/A
I was not able to open this format with any app on my phone, it only opened up a page with code all over it. Not even adobe acrobat reader.

This book is a gallery of modern art. Henn Kim does a wonderful job knitting the pieces of this project together, and the monocromatic style is very aesthetic.

This book is not traditional or free verse poetry. This is a collection of stunning art accompanied by phrases/titles that describe the image.

I enjoyed the creativity. Many images were inspirational and captivating. The macabre ones had their appeal as well.

Thank-you for the copy NetGalley & Henn Kim.

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful! I love the ink line drawing; they are so well done and just timeless. That being said, I think the book itself focused more on illustration than the wording. The words for the most part just didn’t seem to match up, and I think labelling the book as poetry might be a stretch (but that’s just my opinion). Definitely check this book out for the art, it’s very well done.

Thank You to Henn Kim and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for a candid review!

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader copy through Netgalley. Nevertheless, my opinion of this book is my own and not affected by this.

So here's why this book didn't work out so well for me:

1. I really expected poetry. I mean, yes it was poetic in a way, but it's more about the graphics in this book, I guess. The illustrations were really great, however, the one/two liner "poems" felt more like a caption to me. The graphics alone are enough to convey emotions, and the captions ruined it for me.
2. The disconnect. I felt really sad about the first few pages, me relating to the book's weary voice. However, as I continued I find the organization of the poems - a little messy. Interestingly enough, it's the same issue I have with Lang Leav books, so I guess I'd recommend it to her fans... maybe?
3. This last bit is less of a rant. I just hoped the "captions" as I call it, were a little longer. That way, even if I switch topics in the next page, I would have had enough time to ponder the present text before the next one.

That would be all. 3 star is my average rating for this one.

This is a beautifully illustrated book. The black and white ink drawings are striking and evocative.

The words don't add much to the book, and they certainly aren't "poetry," so I was quite disappointed.

But the art is beautiful.

Wow. This wasn't what I expected at all, and I got worried I wouldn't enjoy it at the beginning, but it blew me away. I thought this was a poetry collection with a lot of illustrations, which made me eager to read it because I love poetry and illustrations so much. However, this is more of a little book with illustrations, all of which are titled with something meaningful. You don't get a drawing with a little poem (which I thought was the case), you get a drawing with a name. I wasn't sure that would work for me, but it absolutely did. It's about pain, longing, loneliness, love and self-love, the world and our connection to it and so much more. The special thing about it is I think everyone will see something different in it since it can have so many interpretations.

The drawings were masterfully done - imaginative, creative, and raw. The meaning behind them was so clear a lot of the time that I didn't even need a description or a name, but the little names/titles with them only made it more impactful. There was so much in this little book that resonated with me, and it touched me really deeply and even inspired me in a lot of ways. There's definitely a really special kind of magic in it. If you don't like drawings all that much and you'd prefer a poetry collection, this definitely isn't for you. But if you love the thought of meaningful art with a little bit of text added, you should pick this one up for sure!

A beautiful blend of poetry and art unforeseen in other works. Kim does a stellar job contrasting the two into one cohesive piece.

Thank you Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Starry Night, Blurry Dreams by Henn Kim is a collection of one lined poems along with beautiful illustrations. The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous and were the highlight of the book for me. Although the words can be read quickly, the illustrations and the meaning of the words will have you pondering and gazing longer at the drawings. This graphic poetry book does deal with heavy issues such as alcoholism and suicide.

4/5

Beautiful.

Henn Kim does a masterful job of portraying many themes such as loss, loneliness, love, heartbreak and many more with just black and white illustrations.

Her images of space and the universe being within us is beautiful and enchanting. I also liked her choice to never show a face, allowing any reader to put themselves in the art.

Sometimes the one-liners accompanying the images were spot on and go really well with the page… sometimes they kind of fell flat though. Hence I’m taking a star away from my rating.

Otherwise, this book is beautiful (how many times can I say beautiful in one review) and would make a wonderful gift for anyone. Though I’ve yet to hold a physical copy, I can’t wait to get my hands on one so it can grace my shelf or coffee table with its beauty.

A stunning collection of art with poignant lines. The art is simple, communicated easily. The lines and images together hit on visceral emotional experiences of the everyday. It felt like seeing my own thoughts, particularly within the last few years -- I'm sure many can relate.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Starry night, Blurry Dreams is a bundle of sentences and art about loneliness, love and the surreality of everyday life. I picked this up because of the gorgeous cover and title and i have not regretted it for a second. Although this is book can not be described as poetry in the traditional sense, it still tells an amazing story.

The art is this book is absolutely gorgeous and really shows that you don't need words to tell a story. It's a very dark story, one i could connect and relate to at certain parts, but even the parts that I couldn't connect to where enjoyable because of the gorgeous art that accompanied every sentence.

It definitely makes you think and it feels very human.

Starry Night, Blurry Dreams by Henn Kim was a very cool collection of poem because it was illustrated. The illustrations/poems were so powerful. Very creative. Some illustrations were very simple while others were so elaborate. The longer I looked at them the more I saw. 4.5 Stars.

Possible Trigger Warning: Suicide, Alcoholism

I received an eARC from Andrews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. "Starry Night, Blurry Dreams" is a collection of graphic poetry, my first of this kind. It is very dark and quite though-provoking, but unfortunately it failed to make me feel anything at all. I was left with the impression that the concept of this poetry collection was to capture the strong emotions we feel on a daily basis, but they were so captured, I as a reader could not reach them and vice versa. It was surely a very different and interesting experience, but I couldn't connect with the book.

In Starry Night, Blurry Dreams, Henn Kim pairs her wonderful black and white illustrations with a short phrase. The combinations are sometimes poignant, funny, dark, and wistful, but always are clever and creative.

This book held my attention from cover to cover and I read it straight through.

My thanks to McMeel Publishing for introducing me to this artist/poet by allowing me access to an ARC of the book via NetGalley. The book is slated for publication on 3/15/22. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.