Unfollowing You

I really enjoyed this book of poetry! As someone tuned into dating in the digital age, I have never related more to anything. :) Komal Kapoor accurately captures contemporary dating in a concise, easy-t0-read format that is also quite poetically sound. I enjoyed this book and will look forward to more by this author.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not usually into poetry, but this book was amazing.

Written in such a way that makes you want to find out what happens next. The phone styled pages also break up the traditional prose, giving it an incredibly modern feel.

Unfollowing You is a collection of poetry all too relatable in this modern age.  It felt all too familiar to me and my experiences, the experiences of texting, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook all the while falling in and out of love with someone.  Interspersed with group texts and texts with "Desert Bae," this makes for a fun, multi-media-esque collection of all-too-real poems.  This is also filled with fun, modern-day references such as Taco Bell and Beyonce, and allows for some humor in the midst of some very real, very harsh feelings.  Overall, this is fun and entertaining as well as fresh, modern, and realistic.

Unfollowing You was a delightfully fun romp that explored what it feels like to fall in love in today's society.  Kapoor uses text messages, social media posts, and micro poems to vividly bring to life what it feels like to fall in love through a phone screen. In our world heavily laden with social media, the image we project is much more alluring than reality of who a person is in real life. 

 Kapoor tells a universal story that is updated for a modern audience: What happens when a deeply introspective woman falls in love with a playboy? The feelings are ageless but the telling of the tale is distinctly modern. 

Anyone who has fallen in love within the last five years will know what it means to create a joint a Netflix account with one's beloved. Modern readers can all identify with the heartbreak of an unanswered text message with a "read" receipt. 

This book captures the hilarious and at times heartbreaking moments we all experience in today's world of dating. I can personally attest to the unique anguish of how it feels when he won't return your return texts but you see him active on Instagram. Kapoor captures that feeling perfectly. 

Kapoor also captures what it actually feels like to move on after experiencing such an ill fated love. Her poetry collection shows a deep understanding of the myriad of minefields that plague modern relationships; nevertheless, she remains hopeful. 

I heartily recommend Unfollowing You to anyone who enjoys unique forms of poetry and diverse books. If you've ever creeped on a crush's Instagram feed, Kapoor's work will resonate with you.



Thank You, Andrews McMeel Publishing!


I would like to take a moment to commend Andrews McMeel publishing for the wonderful work that they have been doing by bringing diverse poets to the forefront of the reading public's awareness. 

I started blogging about three months ago in order to develop my platform as an author and to connect with other book lovers. One of the delights of blogging has been the fact that publishers now allow me access to free advanced reader copies of books in exchange for my honest reviews. In the past, I have spent a great deal of money on books (especially poetry) and I'm only too delighted to participate in this exchange.

I was immediately drawn to the books released by McMeel because I absolutely love poetry; furthermore, as a female of minority descent with a disability, I am particularly hungry to read the work of poets from the Own Voices movement. 

The Western literary canon is heavily dominated by people who are white. For years I have asked myself, "What would the art of poetry become if we allowed people from the margins to have a voice/" 

 McMeel  is exploring the answer to that very question. Along with Unfollowing You, McMeel has has published many diverse books including, Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav and You are Here by Dawn Lanuza (click the links to see my reviews).

Although I realize that taste is entirely subjective, I have yet to pick up a book of poetry from McMeel that I haven't enjoyed. Thank you, McMeel, for sponsoring the unique and beautiful brand of poetry that comes to us only when we listen to the margins. 

*Please note: I received a free digital advanced reader copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

All the FEELS!!!
A modern love story about age old heartbreak.
So much emotion in so few words.
Loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for sharing an ARC with me.

When it started off with acronyms like 'lol' and 'bae' in the poetry, I thought I was in for a rollercoaster ride that only went down. But, surprisingly, the meaning behind a lot of the poems far outweighed some of the language used. It was an anthology surrounding modern relationships in a technologically advanced society, so of course it wasn't going to be insanely poetic with fancy words that nobody knows the meaning of. It was concise and succinct and straight to the point (unlike this review). I did really enjoy this.

There were so many moments when reading Unfollowing You, that I thought, this is a little scary. It was so relatable, almost as if it were taking a piece of my thoughts and transforming it into poetry. Love is strange in this world of social media and texting. There is a certain amount of disconnection and isolation, even though we are paradoxically, more connected than ever. Unfollowing you is a collection of poems of the beginning, middle and end of a relationship. Although it was short and sweet, I greatly enjoyed reading this collection.

I have been trying broaden my horizons with regards to different types of literature and this one caught my eye. A story of modern love and heartbreak told in modern poetics. Even though my life is beyond the age of the author, it gives a glimpse of how young people interact in these modern times of cell phones and the internet. This is one person's story and I thought she wrote it beautifully.

Best poetry I have ever read. I have to admit, I am usually not a fan of poetry but this collection sounded very interesting! It didn't disappoint! This collection catalogues the authors thoughts on her relationship from first meeting, falling and being in love, suspicions and disappointment and finally moving on. I think it has something anyone and everyone can relate to whether you have been and are still in love, had a heartbreak or even had your love not returned and felt that rejection. Moving work and I will definitely be following this author!

I  received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

"In a world
That no longer pauses
To listen to the whispers of a soul
You found a song
I didn't know I held within me."

I enjoyed this collection of poetry. The first half is about "new love" and the second half is "broken love".

Unfollowing You
by Komal Kapoor
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Poetry
Pub Date 05 Feb 2019


I am reviewing a copy of Unfollowing You through Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley:


Unfollowing You is an anthem of sorts for modern woman.


The poems in this book deal with everything from modern day love to social media, and the way it can either build up or break down relationships.


Komal Kapoor uses her personal experie as well as her social media expertise to create this collection of poetry.


I give Unfollowing You five out of five star!


Happy Reading!

Unfollowing You gave a unique look at dating and falling in love in the age of technology and social media. I took away a sense that the author was trying to say that technology has ruined the sincerity of personal communication and relationships. Although I am not in that stage of life anymore it was easy to feel how the characters felt. Komal Kapoor did a great job making a real situation, happening everyday into prose to show the emotions of dating and breaking up. The layout of the book was fun to read with inclusion of screen shots.

Thank You Netgalley and Andrews McNeal Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to leave a positive review.

"Unfollowing You" by Komal Kapoor is a collection of short poems and quotes. It is composed of two parts, the first part is following you and the second is unfollowing you.
I don't read poetry, but the cover and the blurb of the book atracted me in.There was some humour which went over my head but mostly it was understandable. It was filled with emotion. This book is so much like a story. Going through the character's life from the start to the end. How the man she loved goes from being her favorite to least favorite notification. It was such a relief when she was mentally able to unfollow him. This book is perfect for everyone going through hardships in life (which is everyone, I think!).

I enjoyed this collection of poetry! I felt like the poet did a good job of displaying the path love takes in our society. In today’s society, when a relationship takes a turn it ends with unfollowing on social media. The message behind the poetry collection was that once you move on from someone you can finally unfollow them. I loved it!

This is my first time reading the poet. I really enjoyed Unfollowing You. This collection offers emotional insight into the start, middle and end of a modern love affair. I could relate to many things the poet has to say. So can many people I assume. The poems are different lengths from a few words to a full page. I liked the variation though the longer poems were better. None of the poems have titles giving the impression the words were dashed off in the heat of emotion. I like poems to have titles though so this niggled a bit. Overall, there are some powerful pieces in Unfollowing You.

A good look at a relationship in a day and age where some or all of it is connected to a digital space. But is nice told throughout that lens and a really interesting look.

I really enjoyed this book of poetry. I tend to like it when a collection follows a single narrative thread from beginning to end. This narrative thread, though not original (it's the story of getting together and then breaking up) is very relatable and is explored in a way that is modern, with the use of technology and cultural references (that are very Gen Y/Millenial) as both a point of reference and in the way the poetry is presented. This could easily be hokey, but I really enjoyed it here. An example that I absolutely loved was comparing the time with the lover to "a trip to Taco Bell/great in the moment/regretful the next day." I laughed out loud when I read it because it was extremely clever yet relatable. The references don't feel forced or awkward, they naturally fit the modern age, especially considering how often things like Netflix and the like now fit into modern relationships.
My only critique of the book is relative to the pages that show the layout of a phone screen. Some of these were used to great effect, such as showing an unsent text asking a question about whether the lover is seeing other people, but many of the pages were just the layout of a phone texting screen without any material. I'm hoping that this is just something unfinished in the ARC I read and that the official release will add to those, but if not many of them felt out-of-place and like they were a missed opportunity for more clever writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. It is very relevant in the fact that so much of dating is done online, and how many of these interactions can be harmful. I myself have been in these situations before. I did deduct one star simply because some of the poems were just one simplistic line, and did not feel complete.

3.5 Stars. I liked the writing, but nothing really stuck with me when I put the book down. I enjoyed that the poems followed a narrative, but I feel that there were a few that could have been left out in order to make the story flow better.

I do think the blurb perfectly describes this book and that it's extremely relatable to "dating" in the social media age with and trying to figure out not only how you feel, but how another person feels when neither of you are saying it out loud. There were a lot of times I was reading and would think I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way, so I definitely recommend picking it up if you've ever been that person who overanalyzing every text and dreaming about the future.

Unfollowing You by Komal Kapoor is poetry 'set' in today's world and follows a relationship in a chronological tale. I like the style of this book, it's has many formate, poems, prose, texts, screen grabs, and unsent letters. The poems felt personal. While I did feel a few poems repeated it's self, I found that I still like most of the poems in this book. I enjoyed how social media played a part in the poetry style. This was a fun, a unique read in today's digital world.

I enjoyed the style of this book as it was very different from what I have read. It's well written but I found it a little over dramatic. Don't take my word for it though because I still believe you should pick this up and judge for yourself. Happy reading!

This is a long form poem charting the start, obsession and end of a relationship lived out through the medium of the internet and social media and how that has changed how relationships are compared to the past. This gives you a lot to think about.