Alicia Cook

This is one of those books I would definitely recommend to both students and adults. The book is set up like a "mental health" mixed tape of poems that are categorized as either "tracks" or "remixes," or blackout poetry. There are 92 poems in all, and each one is deeply heartfelt and agonizingly beautiful. This is a beautiful book of poetry that highlights the struggle, beauty, sadness, and complexity that is mental health. The poems themselves, I feel, help to break the stigma of mental health, and really highlight the struggles of mental illness. While this might not be something every student would feel comfortable enough reading, I do think it's a great book to bring to the forefront of students' attention, to let them know that there's literature out there that might help them better understand what they might be going through, and might make them feel less alone in their struggles. Mental heath is not something that's given enough time, money, and attention in this country, yet it's one of the most prominent illnesses and it's only getting worse amongst young people. The more literature - whether fiction or non-fiction - that can be provided to young readers about mental illness, the better.… (plus d'informations)

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the chance to read and review ‘The Music Was Just Getting Good’ by Alicia Cook.

The Music Was Just Getting Good is Alicia Cook’s fourth and final installation in her mixtape series. She does seem to have her devotees; her books average around 3.9 stars on Goodreads, based on 600 to 5300+ reviews. Those who like her style, will like her style. This last book comes out on the 9th of January, is 242 pages long, and like the others in the series is published by Andrews McMeel. The book is not available on Kindle Unlimited, and the kindle version is priced around $8.49.

The style of the series is interesting; the book is divided into two sides. Side A has 91 poems, none of which have a title but are called Track 1, Track 2 and so on. Each of these "tracks" is accompanied with a song, which is an interesting way to read these poems. The second half of the book, called 'Side B', is a series of blackout poems based on the original 91 tracks. However, in this second half, each of the poems has different songs than the first.

To be clear, I absolutely love Track 27 and I think Alicia Cook has some real gems in this collection. I understand why her fans love her.

That being said, I believe that this collection needed to be edited significantly.

91 poems and then 91 blackout poems don’t seem to be a lot and then you open the book and they become a lot, especially when the same couple of themes are repeated again and again. Had the author halved the number of poems, the remaining ones would have been given the ability to shine individually instead of being lost in this sea of tracks instead of letting things become repetitive.… (plus d'informations)

The first thing that drew my attention to this book was the title of this book. The fact that the book is divided into tape records reminded me of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I really liked the introduction of this book, especially the message, it was so damn relatable. The chat message in the beginning reminded me of the fact that there are so many words left unsaid. The poems are simple, yet so relatable, it feels like reading a diary. I really liked that the poet has recommended songs in the ending of poems. It gives us a glimpse of poet's mind while reading the poem.… (plus d'informations)

I Hope My Voice Doesn't Skip by Alicia Cook is the Poets second complete collection of poetry. Cook earned her Bachelor's Degree in English Literature in 2008 and her MBA in 2012. She is employed as the Associate Director of Communications at Saint Peter's University. Cook is a freelance writer for multiple publications and a content writer for The Asbury Insider. She is also an activist fighting the heroin epidemic.

This is the second collection of Alicia Cook's poems I have read. The first being Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately. Like that book, I found the first section much better than the first. The first section of this book consists of poems that are longer and better written than the current tended of "internet sensation poets" but have the same message that may seem a bit trite to mature readers and readers of poetry. To keep with the poet's musical theme most of the first section, EP, is bubblegum pop music. That is not to say that they are all trite. "Sunday Morning Cartoons" and "I Am Sorry for Your Loss" carry a strong message but seem more like musings than poetry. "The ’90s Seem So Long Ago" is the hit in this first section. Although I am not nostalgic for the '90s I feel the same about the '70s.

The second section titled LP is the album rock of the collection and varies between rock and arena rock. What initially impressed me in this collection were the links to the poet reading of her poems. This is especially helpful in learning how the poet reads her poems, rhythm, speed, infections. However, the links that are active, before the release, are by cafe/folk style musicians singing the poem, or is it now a song? It's a nice touch but not a poetry reading; it does, however, keep with the musical theme of Cook's collections. The two poems that stood out were "Ten Little Girls", which is the rewording of "Ten Little Indians", and "Transitions". "Transitions" stands alone as being a well written traditional poem in this collection.

Again, Cook provides hit and miss writing for me. Where she writes poetry she writes well. Most of the collection seems to follow along the lines of the current trend of young "poets" that write feelings without form. I understand the popularity of this writing with the younger generation's preference for brevity in communications and society's sound bite attention span. Cook can write poetry when she wants to. I just wish she would concentrate more on writing poetry.

Available June 5, 2018… (plus d'informations)