I approached Stars Around My Scars with an open mind, first because I appreciate and enjoy Swift's songwriting and second because I found this project to be truly fascinating. In the end, I have to say that this is a venture that left me slightly disappointed, for it had the potential to be so much more than it ended up being.

For starters, I believe that the decision not to liken the book's layout to a more canonically academic formatting/editing was a missed opportunity, because not only did the scribbled text seem chaotic, but it looked (to me) to be less accessible due to the font, color and spacing issues. Furthermore, the author's oppositive stance on high/popular culture (more on this later, but to sum a complex conversation up, it seems to me that McCausland rejects the notion that Swift's writing could possibly be prerogative of popular culture) I would've expected a more academic approach (given the plenty elements that nod towards that route, such as McCausland unironically dubbing herself a "Professor in Swifterature" and this book itself using terms such as "annotated poetry", like academic texts do). Instead, what meets the reader is an interesting hybrid, not quite academic (despite the plethora of borrowed, technical terminology), not quite educational (McCausland does not purport to teach its readers about literary analysis, nor does she intend to), but also not quite fully "for fun". The text takes itself quite seriously, but the work does not—a much richer body of text would've been created, had that been the case.

Indeed, I found that this book does not quite know what it aspires to be. Sure, it is an annotated "poetry" manual, with its literary analysis alright, but I felt like the poetical work was only an assistant to its deeper purpose: demonstrating that Swift is a capable enough writer to be deemed a poet and not just a *gasp* songwriter. Undoubtedly, a lot of meticulous effort went into the analysis of Swift's works, but most often the flexing of literary devices (though showcasing an impressive knowledge on the author's part), the purported intertextuality (though really stimulating) didn't really go anywhere, consistently mentioned but rarely explored; i found it a, frankly, mechanical attitude to poetry: merely being told x lyric is a polyptoton without telling me what it is trying to say or why that polyptoton is important to note and why it being there enriches the text and its meaning, what it reflects etc. doesn't really infer anything of note on the reading of the text other than "wow, she used a polyptoton, very impressive".

As I mentioned before, the author, in her introduction (that uses zero citations, so we have to take her word and her word only as gospel) discusses the divide between high culture and popular culture*, with a very clear penchant and bias for the former (from the introduction: "the idea that it would be radical to consider Swift a poet needs some unpacking, not least because of what it tells us about an apparent mismatch of the public imagination between "high" culture and "popular" culture"). Given this, it makes sense how and why this book feels less like an attempt to properly discuss Swift's penmanship and rather a valiant attempt at proving that her songwriting is as strong as a poem, despite being a *gasp* song. Disregarding the fact that, thought Swift has clearly a knack for poetical writing, she’s made songs (that, despite sharing similarities with poems and literature, ultimately work in different ways) her preferred medium of expression.

Ultimately, the idea is bold, ambitious and commendable, but it unfortunately had a strained execution. In the end I was left disappointed, absolutely not because """this is an analysis of a work of "popular culture" and it therefore has no business being analyzed this way""" (it wouldn't be the first instance of this happening, after all, Easthope literally tells us that: "Both literary and popular cultural texts operate through a system of signs, meanings arising from the organisation of the signifier, so both can be analysed in common terms."), but because, in the end, in her quest to demonstrate and elevate the poetic character of Swift's writing (to the point that she mentioned ad nauseam the literary term "pathetic fallacy" even though it only truly applied a couple of times, this, too, felt like an effort to akin Swift to the great poets she herself loves so much, the Romantics, who are famous for loving this type of literary expression), Mccausland divided the apparent "high culture" element (the lyrics) from the "popular culture" element (the music), completely disregarding the latter one. By acting as if the song lyrics were never song lyrics, but poems, the text is denaturalized just enough to render any attempt at analysis incomplete. It would be like analyzing a manga's story, but ignoring its visual components. It's in the commingling of music and lyrics that the text is created and its real meaning can be inferred. Indeed, some annotations felt redundant, tautological and that's because the author was attempting to extract from them the meaning that could've easily been exposed by keeping the musical scope of the song in mind as well. Swift does not write merely poetry and, though we can of course use literary analysis to parse her texts, I think that her work still has to be handled in a way befitting to its genre. Otherwise, McCausland should've fully embraced the genre distortion by setting up the appropriate academic scaffolding/framework, with citations and footnotes and proper intertextual work.

Despite this, it would be remiss of me to ignore some of the best and most successful analysis of this book: of course, Swift's most lyrical poetry albums were more suitable to this exercise than others and, so, I thoroughly enjoyed McCausland flexing of her literary analysis muscles on folklore and evermore. But, more than anything, the author did an amazing work on Innocent and Nothing New. Even though I think her work truly culminated with her analysis of Seven. All in all, I think that what McCausland did was very impressive, the sheer amount of songs analyzed is remarkable and the attempt at creating a Swiftian canon in such an eloquent way is awe-inspiring, it's always nice to see art being treated as such and not as a product to be consumed.

This book was great! I'm not a Swiftie, per say, but I love her music. I think anyone who is a fan of hers will love and appreciate this book!!!

I would recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was SUCH a fun read for a Swiftie! It was really interesting to see someone else’s interpretations of Taylor’s lyrics. There were some really fascinating lyrical connections that were made that I had never considered before and made me think about some songs in a new way.

Taylor Swift IS the music industry!!!!!!!!

This was a great read! Admittedly, I am a lifelong, die-hard swiftie - I've been to every tour she has ever done, I've interacted with her on tumblr, and I know all the lore because I witnessed it in real time - so I've had a lot of time to sit with her lyrics, and there wasn't much in here that I hadn't seen or thought about before. BUT, I do still think this is worth the read, and worth my money. Elly McCausland goes line-by-line on some of Taylor's best - and most underrated - songs, showing themes and patterns that are hard to pick up on when you're jamming out in the car, and not looking at the words on paper in front of you. This book is perfect for the casual fan, the new fan, the younger fan, who may want some guidance analyzing Taylor's work. Taylor Swift is a poet after all, a modern Shakespeare, and her words deserve the same attention we'd give to any other literary genius, I'm glad this exists!

I do think some of the line-by-line lyric analyses could have been a bit more detailed, with better examples of how Taylor explores specific themes in the same/different ways across multiple (4+) eras-spanning songs, but I acknowledge that this is one of the first books of its kind, and I hope more like it are published in the future.

A recommended read for anyone who wishes they could take a college class on Taylor Swifts song writing but is no longe in college.

I was so excited to read this book but it wouldn’t open for me from the NetGalley app 😫 but it sounds like a really interesting read

Such an interesting book! It was lovely to look at way too familiar lyrics in a different way. Just perfect for Swifties and poetry lovers!!!

As someone who wants to read more poetry but doesn’t know where to start this is perfect! I have always believed that music and especially lyrics is a literary art form in itself and is this book is a great way to introduce others to this idea. It not only breaks it down but opens a conversation to critical thought around the building of the poetry.
As a Taylor Swift fan this was so much fun to read. I also did not listen to the songs as reading but I would HIGHLY recommend reading each passage as the song plays in the background to enhance the experience.

I love Taylor Swift and poetry so this was a great read for me to see her lyrics analysed and see the different meanings.

I love Taylor Swift's words as much as her music so this book, which analyses her songs as poetry, is right up my alley. A perfect read.

Interesting subject matter. I love TS and her music so this was a natural fit for me. The book was a little difficult to read digitally due to the size of the pages. It was also weird to zoom in and read it in pieces. The actual book is much easier to read. Enjoyed this one.

A great book for all Taylor Swift fans (which I'm sure you could have guessed!). Deep dive into the lyrics and discover the possible meaning(s) behind your favorite songs.

This book reads like a dissertation on Taylor Swift’s poetry, which for anyone not familiar with the academic writing style it might be a bit cumbersome,

I loved the way that the songs were annotated and how it shows the reader the importance of close reading. The full summaries did an excellent job to interweave the text and other works by Swift.

It was very interesting and well thought out. And the layout of the book is beautiful.

3.5/5

An ARC was provided by NerGalley and Andrew McNeels Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

An excellent book any swiftie would love to have!

Stars around my scars is an ode to Swift's lyrics, arguing that aside from their catchiness Swift's songs have a thoughtfulness behind them as Taylor takes inspiration from pop culture and literature to everyday items used symbolically. Both the analysis of the songs and the authors arguments on the intelligence and creativity of swift is enough to convince even the most reactant readers to give her music another shot, and create excitement to those of us already in love with Mrs Swift.

I absolutely adored this book! If you’ve ever wanted to delve into Swift’s lyrics with a literary lens, this is the perfect guide. Dr. Elly McCausland’s analysis of these lyrics is masterful, infusing them with her insightful and concise perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about literature. Prepare to immerse yourself and rediscover the timeless beauty of these songs.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for sending me this ebook for review consideration.

If you ever wanted someone with a PhD to explain to you what “I ask the traffic lights if I’ll be alright they say ‘I don’t know’” means then you’re in luck, as this book absolutely delivers.

Stars Around My Scars: The Annotated Poetry of Taylor Swift by Elly McCausland

Thanks to @netgalley @andrewsmcmeel for the advance copy of this to read and review 🥹

Where to start….. this was my worst nightmare at school anyone who did GCSE English will remember annotating that poetry anthology, full of poems that meant nothing to you! Well if I’d have done this anthology at school I’d have probably got an A****** in English! 😂

A beautiful annotation of Taylor Swift songs and the linguistic devices that are in there! I couldn’t have hoped for anything more from this 🫶🏼

Did I enjoy it?
Yes I loved it I love Taylor’s lyrics but deeper diving into elements of it made me realise some of the things that Taylor does that makes her music to be a whole new level of brilliant!

Would I recommend it?

Yes absolutely my little swiftie brain was loving this and I actually listened to the songs whilst reading about them which I think added another layer too!

Did it leave a mark on me?
Yes it took me right back to the eras tour sing dancing and screaming bridges of songs with however many other people!

I really appreciated the format of this book, which was annotated song lyrics followed by more in depth analysis. Taylor is one of my favorite lyricists and this book perfectly captures how much effort, nuance, creativity and intelligence Taylor brings to her lyrics (fingers crossed for a songwriter of the year award at the Grammys this weekend!). I would have loved to see an analysis on Cardigan, given that the book title was inspired by one of the song’s lyrics (and it’s also one of my favorite songs), but overall this was fascinating and I’d recommend it! 4⭐️

If you are a Swiftie this is a perfect book to dig into the lyrics in your favourite songs! Elly McCausland dissects many of Taylor Swift's songs prompting the reader to think a little more deeply about the lyrics and the literary elements contained in them. While reading this book I wondered, could this be a textbook for a high school/college course in poetry and writing? There are so many opportunities to debate the meaning of the lyrics and elements contained within. This may be the perfect way to engage students in poetry and literary elements.

Thank you NetGalley, Elly McCausland and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to preview this text. The opinions shared are my own.

I am a die hard Swiftie and have been from the early days of her career. I love analyzing her lyrics and her songs are on a constant loop in my brain. As a poet myself, and a fella with deeply felt emotions, I connect with Taylor on so many levels. This book reminded me of college poetry courses. We would write a poem, print enough for the whole class and analyze and critique each others work to find the meaning. This look does just that with some of the greatest songs in pop music history. I would sign up for college course like this in a heartbeat if I were still in school. It was so fun to see another persons perspective on some of my favorite songs. A lot of times it solidified my own interpretations but also made me think of things I had not yet considered.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this.