Horn Book Guide Reviews
A collection of short, emotionally honest poems divided into four sections chronicle Instagram-famous teenage poet Kaufman's journey from the darkness of depression, self-harm, and abusive relationships to recovery and empowerment. Specific traumas are left fairly vague, allowing teen readers to imagine their own hurts along with the author's and feel less alone. Occasional spot drawings punctuate the text. Copyright 2018 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
A teenage girl uses writing to heal from sexual assault and depression in this collection of poems in four parts. Kaufman, who has an active presence on Instagram as @poeticpoison, dedicates her book to "anyone terrified that it won't get better." In Part 1, the narrator is in full crisis mode, searching online for the suicide hotline and answers to questions about depression and anxiety: "I am going stir crazy / inside my skull, / peeling off the wallpaper / with short, bitten nails." In Part 2, the narrator describes writing as a way to find herself and face what happened to her ("I said I guess, I said / I'm scared, I said if you want to, I said I don't / think I can do this"). She ponders what her diagnosis of depression and anxiety means for future relationships. In Part 3, she has more help and support: "the wounds have healed / and the scars are fading." Her emergence from depression ("the sadness isn't as / comforting as it used to be") is perhaps most poignant. In Pa rt 4, she speaks of therapy and medication and ends with self-love and the beauty of survival. Debut author Kaufman's voice is authentic, and her experiences, feelings, and journey toward healing are convincing. Black-and-white illustrations enhance the text. This book could be a lifeline for survivors and provide insight for others. (Poetry. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
School Library Journal Reviews
Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews
Light Filters In collects Instagram phenom Caroline Kaufman's plainspoken, yet provocative poems, accented by Bryksenkova's line drawings. Addressing teen readers with the multiplicity of her past, present, future, and possible selves, the poet speaks about mental health issues with clarity, candor, humor, nostalgia, sadness, and hopefulness. Her stark verse—sometimes accusatory, admonishing, pleading, apologetic, and always revealing—hammers at concepts of isolation, sexual violence, and self-harm, yet an ascending thread from wounding to surviving, from inertia to growth, from fear to bravery, laces through the works. Wavering between self-demolition and affirmation, Kaufman concludes, "I am lovable," while admitting her missteps in the process of recovery. The untitled free form and rhyming verse flow like stream of consciousness with a guileless, visceral rawness, and nuggets of creative potential are evident as Kaufman uses poetry to cleanse and heal her damaged teenage self while reaching out to others suffering from depression, trauma, or suicidal thoughts. Clever use of simile, metaphor, aphorism, reverse- and meta-poetry display her explorations of style and form, and key concepts like "the excavation of my adolescence" connect the disparate short poems. Some readers will detect naiveté and cliché in this young author's work, but Kaufman's social media fans will clamor for this unpretentious book, which speaks directly to the reader in crisis or seeking empathy; in other words, to many teen readers.—Rebecca Jung. 3Q 4P J S Copyright 2018 Voya Reviews.