3.5 stars

Oof, some of these hit me right in my soul.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. (The version I read was a finished copy.)

Dark and intense, but so lovely to read. Marbun goes into some really dark places and the end is unsettling, but the journey is worth the read.

When the Dark Spoke to Me by Christabelle Marbun is a powerful poetry collection containing dark themes, such as depression, suicidal idealization, grief, death, and even more. When reading this collection, practice self-care and read the trigger warning at the beginning.
The collection contains many poems that resonated with me. The writer did a great job depicting pain and depression.

"I will feel it all just for the sake of experiencing my mortality in the most infinite way I can."

When the Dark Spoke to Me is a poetry collection by Christabelle Marbun that deals with life, death, heartache, abuse, and mental health (please read the trigger warnings in the beginning of the book as some poems fall on the heavier side and deal with darker themes such as suicide).

In this collection, I enjoyed the poems that personified Death and Life the most. Some of the other poems didn't always feel like they belonged with the "fantasy" poems that were in the beginning so it took me a while to actually finish this as I couldn't always find the connection between.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

"It started with simple things:
a missing "good morning" and
"good night," scarce "I love you's" and even rarer
displays of it. Our text messages were no longer
at the top of my phone, and I'm almost startled
to see your name pop up. Our pictures move
farther down, descending into time as I fill my
album with newer memories. You were a part of
my life, imprinted on it, even. So, when I miss you,
something I one day hope to not do so often,
I will start with the simple things."

A huge thanks to Netgalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review of this poetry collection. Another poetry collection I just felt was meh. I didn't feel like the poems told a story, nor did they seem connected. I could relate to most of what the poet said but the stanzas are just so short. I really liked the first part of the collection but not the rest. I was not the target reader for this poetry collection. I hope a reread will change my mind.

This was not for me at all. Suicide ideation is a huge theme throughout the book but not reflected in the synopsis, though I appreciate the author's raw honesty and being privy to her thoughts. What left me feeling turned off and uncomfortable was how death is romanticised in a way that goes beyond processing one's experiences/emotions. Instead, they come across as harmful and damaging (just my personal interpretation).

The rest of the collection is just as dark and heavy, examining topics such as parental abuse, toxic relationships, unrequited love and mental illness. Unlike what the synopsis claims, there was no "uniquely positive perspective" or "effortless optimism", and it was far from "comforting".

There were a few poems that I liked but most were 'instapoetry style' which I'm not a fan of. I hate giving something so personal a low rating but I truly did not vibe with this book.

As someone who has dealt with mental health issues for many years, the theme of this collection was very emotional and bittersweet. I liked the Life and Death characters and the way their story thread wove between the different sections throughout the book. The scanned-in handwritten notes on scraps of paper and receipts were a nice touch and made the collection feel that much more personal and intimate. I did find the lack of titles/structure to be confusing, as the prose within each large section blended together and it was often unclear where one poem began and one ended; many blended together and the different themes and topics became blurred.

This is a beautifully written collection of poetry. I listened to the audiobook in conjuction with reading an ebook, and I have to say the audio really added a lot to my overall enjoyment. Some of the poems had music in the background or certain lines echoed, and it all really enhanced the experience.

Most of the poems were pretty sad, with a general heaviness, but they weren't bleak. There was a hopeful feeling to the collection as a whole, and it ended on a very satisfying note.

This one is especially impressive considering how young the author is, and I definitely recommend it for poetry lovers! Do pay attention to the trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy! All thoughts are my own.

A sympathetically packaged collection of teenage dreams and aches along the way, simplistic but strong and a good read.

Please check TW before picking up this book, mental health is important.

This book dives deep into the human emotions and how certain ones shape individuals, such as grief, love and death. Beautiful pieces of poetry throughout the book. Not all spoke to me but they might speak to you, poetry is interpreted at such an individual level and everyone reads into a different meaning. I do believe this book should be read by individuals in a good and stable mental place.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and enjoy this poetry e-arc.
I'm not even lying when I say I read this in one day. I had tears streaming down my face most of the time reading this. I couldn't put it down, I felt like someone finally understood me.
5 STARS

Firstly I would like to thank the author, the publishers, and Netgalley for providing this ARC, and the audiobook for me to review.

When the dark spoke to me is a poetry book in which the author speaks of death, darkness, love and parental relationships. I was greatly affected by this book, it was not an easy read, which is why I decided to pick up the audiobook, and it was very helpful for me to get to ending the book, although it was really short and fast, the words were heavy, it takes someone with certain experience to understand what heavy here means.

The labeling on this book is a little misleading though, it's more ya poetry to be honest, adults will not relate to this in general.

I genuinely suffered in understanding what the pronouns meant, in some parts the author said I, and others the author said she, and not that the pronouns matter, I just couldn't link if we were speaking about the narrator or not.

The book was separated into five chapters, the last one separated into two parts, each chapter spoke of a different topic, the chapters were named: Death, Madness, Love, Threshold and Requiem.

I would most definitely look up trigger warnings before picking up this book, the first two chapters are dark, but the last two chapters are sort of healing. I did not take this book lightly to be honest, and there were quotes that hit spots I never wanted touched, but it was a good read in general.

I went into this book completely unaware of the background of this author. She’s young. In fact, she is a well established child actor in Indonesia. And at 18 years old, this isn’t even her first published collection of poetry. Here I am pushing 40 struggling to keep up with my review schedule and this person has a couple books and over 100 movies under her belt. So says the blurb on her newest book’s Amazon page, though a quick google search does not confirm that claim. Still, even one movie and a pile of poetry is an accomplishment for anyone. Good for her!

When the Dark Spoke to Me begins with a trigger warning. This book contains themes of Death and suicidal ideation, reader discretion advised. As a person who often thinks about death and suicide, this was appreciated. Sometimes you just don’t want to deal with those themes and that’s okay.

Sometimes though, I’m feeling numb and want to feel something, so I read stuff that may break my heart. Sometimes I want that.

Unfortunately this is not what I was hoping. I read reviews that said it reads like it was written by someone wise behind their years, but I’m not seeing it. It reads very much like it was written by a teenager, because it was. Reading this reminded me of reading my old Livejournal posts. Cringe city. There’s a whole section addressed to Death, referring to Death as her first love that reminds me of being a teenager and exploring darker themes while learning to cope with depression.

There are also glimmers of…something. She is asking questions and writing her way to the answers she seeks. There’s one called The Gifted Kid Burnout that sets the stage for the rest of the collection. You can tell she is trying so hard not to burn out while processing her trauma at the same time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. It’s not bad. I think younger readers in the same stage of their lives as the author would find this collection more relatable.

Big thanks to Christabelle Marbun, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can buy When the Dark Spoke to Me, by Christabelle Marbun on Amazon in multiple formats beginning October 11.

This was my first poetry book and I am absolutely in awe with this. All the poems were so good, and I really liked the view on death. It is often portrayed as bad and something to be afraid of, but here it also shows that it is nothing to be afraid of and can be a friend in a way as well. What I liked most was that some poems had illustrations and some were not simply written on a page. I also liked how some words were underlined to emphasize on that word and to show its importance. I will definitely check out the author's other poetry book.

I luckily received an ARC of When the Dark Spoke to Me by Christabelle Marbun through NetGalley. This is a book of #poetry that dives into abuse, relationships, and mental health.

Despite the author's young age (Christabelle is a teenager), she is able to put what many have experienced in life into words. While a lot of what the author has experienced is not something I've personally dealt with, there are many poems that I still really connected with.

While there are many poems in this book that I hope you get a chance to read, please be aware that a lot of this poetry is based on suicidal ideation and abuse. While many people can connect with these poems, it's important to remember that your mental health is important and you may not necessarily be in a place to read these poems right now.

Overall, I give When the Dark Spoke to Me 3.75 ⭐.

I’ve read all sorts of poetry but there’s only one type that I’ve truly enjoyed reading and that I’ve connected with. “When the Dark Spoke to Me” falls directly into the category of heartbreaking poetry that I love.

This poetry collection is divided into several different sections, each one containing dozens of poems. I loved how some sections were very obviously going to be sorrowful (I.e. the portion labeled “death”). Each poem was beautifully crafted and I felt something different while reading every one.

Even the sections that sound more lighthearted and giddy (I.e. the portion titled “love”) had some twisted and heartbreaking elements to them as well. I found the poems in the chapter of “Love” to be my overall favorites, as I found them to be most relatable to me.

I will certainly purchase this book in print after its release and I look forward to reading more works by this author.

I loved the small illustrations and the little extra handwritten notes scattered throughout the ebook version of this by the author. This dealt with some heavy topics but was done so well. There was so much emotion in these poems. From beginning to end there was a process of feelings. I could feel them with the author. I cannot wait to read more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"At this point, authentic happiness seems far more artificial than faking it."

The whole collection is divided into 5 chapters (the last one is also subdivides into 2 more). I will try to go briefly through all:

Death:

First thing you should know is that the whole chapter is a HUGE trigger warning (topics of death and suicide in a very explicit way). I read somewhere that "you feel so much, 'cause you are so much". That sentence feels a pretty right description of the way the author hits you right in the face
with problematic nature of grief and loss, and coping with feelings, and persevering, and keep living despite the trauma.

Madness:

The writer deals with topics of relationships with parents and experience of getting pressured as a child. What I find the most heart-hitting is how each poem exists on the edge between greatness and childishness, almost as if tangible inexperience slowly changes into awareness and maturity.

Love:

Here we have the transition from very dark and hard topics to lighter (yet still complicated) ones. You could notice impulsive and irrational decisions that were made, and a few psychological dive-ins (a sentence "the moment pain became generational" completely got me).

Threshold and Requiem:

The conclusion, where we observe searching for healing and light, and finding healthy ways of moving on.

In general, even though I've had a few issues here and there, and a few poems and drawings (which are great by the way) are not really my taste, I believe it is one of the strongest debut poetry collections I have read in a while. The words chosen are simple, yet striking. The teenage maximalism borders with adult issues and solutions. This book deals with so many topics in such blatant way that makes it almost immaculate. Christabelle Marbun is now on my radar for a good poetry.

wonder if this collection would be best suited for a younger audience and so will classify it as YA Poetry. I think I would have enjoyed this more when I was in my Emo era at school.

Having said that, I would also recommend it with a content warning. If you are struggling, then this could give comfort in the reminder that you are not alone or could be a trigger and should be approached with support.

This collection is raw and not as refined in its imagery and depth that I would have liked. I enjoyed the first part the most with the conversation on choosing between Life and Death and the narrator’s love dance with Death while having to deal with Life and I enjoyed the structure of the first part, which felt more personal. I think this writer has promise and would love to see where how their writing develops and grows in future works.

Pub Date: 11 October 2022

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

It was a beautiful and emotionally driven work, I did enjoy much of it and felt deeply while reading a lot of the poems in this collection, however there were some poems in this I just can't say that to and those really impacted the overall experience of reading this. They felt like cringy fillers in the midst of many beautiful works. But yes apart from that, the writer has definitely poured their soul into much of the poems and I am grateful to have read them.

Thankyou Netgalley for the ARC.