This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

This is a good book. It is very enjoyable. It is fun at some points, tender at others, uncomfortable at others, hard, sad, and sometimes beautiful. Well worth the read, and a good addition to poetry collections.

Gorgeous book. I was drawn in straight away and found it so fresh and engaging.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A brave and well written collection which candidly explores the author's personal experiences.

While I enjoyed much of the collection, it did not stand out for me. Perhaps I am not the target audience and it may resonate with others more.

Definitely worth reading though.

I just could not get into this poetry collection. I am not sure if it is how the poems were written, but this one was just not my cup of tea.

I enjoyed this collection and found that I connected with the themes of queerness and finding your identity.

I am still new to poems and poetry as a whole so I am still not sure what I personally enjoy let alone what to recommend or how to really review a book such as this.
So let me just be honest and you take from that what you what:
I neither enjoyed or loved any of the poems in this book nor can I say that I "got" anything from them other than trying to understand why the tauthor choose to take hat specific style of writing fo ta specific story.
But I didn't hate any of it either. They just where not what I am used to at all and becuse of that felt all very strange to me.

It's a bit of a strange read since I personally seem to enjoy the poetry that is rather fluent for a lack of abetted word, that has rythm and even a bit of a rhym to it. This book doesn't really have Those.

So I felt a bit like I was trying to understand a different language that I have a very basic understand of but not the depth of knowledge I need it understand what is actually Happening.

All this to say I would just give it a try.
If you are a seasoned poetry reader I am sure you know more about this book than I am nad if you are a new discoverer as I am I would just give it a try! You never know until you do!

What stunning poetry!!! I love watching Adam Falkner perform but these poems have the same impact when you read them!! I highly recommend them to ANYONE AND EVERYONE!!!

I'm not much of a poetry reader. I'm aphantasic, which mean I don't really get anything from descriptive language, it takes me a long time to process it, and I don't really ~feel~ the vast majority of it. But I keep trying, because I think it's important to try and expand your horizons. I jammed with a good bit of the poetry in here, some of the themes... poetry I actually enjoyed, who'da thunk it.

I found this collection quite interesting. as a queer individual I could relate to several of Falkners poems. Although I could not relate to his many poems about race, I could appreciate the writing. His poems are thought provoking and made you question many things. It wasn't one of my favorite collections but I feel like I learned something and might reach for this collection in the future.

Thanks #NetGalley for the review copy of #TheWillies

I had a hard time getting into many of these poems, but the ones I liked all hit very deeply. "My Grandma Calls Me Barack" almost offhandedly describes the emotionally difficult experience of seeing a loved one go through dementia and all of the little signs that though they're physically speaking to you, their mind is in a different time and place. "Fishing the Little Pigeon" is about family legacies - the good and the bad. In this poem, a young boy goes fishing with his grandfather and sneaks a beer without really knowing what it is, then is scared to speak the truth because he doesn't want to ruin the fishing tradition, while a different family legacy (drinking) is unknowingly taking hold.

That said, the overall collection was significantly more impactful and put-together than the individual poems themselves. Taken as a cohesive story or memoir, one can see the growth, challenges, insights, development of identity, etc. being told through all of these lines.

This collection as it is read feels so cathartic, like it's being unleashed into the world and it makes for such pacey and riveting read as you fall into the words throughout this collection. How Falkner talks about himself being queer or the grief of losing someone, no matter the thought, he spills feeling withs his words and it makes for such captivating reading - how he can put how he feels into metaphors, is just beautifully done too (for example, 'I am suspended like a song trapped in a mason jar').

The style in which he captures his thoughts changes, how he uses different ways of writing really make you change how you think about what you are reading and that pulls you in deeper into his words and makes you connect further to the thoughts he has. I really appreciate the integrity of his words but also how the author wants you to read them too.

It hits you hard, it makes you feel the sadness and the hurt but it is done so beautifully throughout and it kept me reading until the very end.

3.5 stars

This was such a lovely collection. It mainly focused on topics such as queerness, loss, alcoholism and white privilege. As it usually happens with poetry collections, there were some poems I loved and some poems I didn't really care much about. My favorite ones where definitely those that explored sexuality, growing up queer and coming out, and the ones about grief. They were very raw and a little heartbreaking and sometimes felt like a kick in the gut, but that's exactly what I'm always looking for in poetry, so they were perfect.

I loved how the author managed to use very colloquial language without making the poems sound lazy; they all had a certain rythm to them and flowed very nicely. I overall really liked his style; so even though I didn't adore the collection as a whole, it was still enjoyable, and definitely worth the read, and I do think I'm gonna revisit some of the poems in the future, as well as keep an eye on the author.

I wanted to love this, but I just couldn't connect to it in the way I hoped to. A couple of the poems resonated with me, and Falkner is wonderful with his words, but I can't say this was a memorable read. Worthwhile, to be sure, but sadly it wasn't for me!

Yes, I like how this collection was written with all the angst and the emotions. This collection is all about the author's experience of being a writer, his sexuality and facing discrimination for the same and also about racism. I like how the author focuses on the people around him and the several issues that he had to face; losing his best friend and the grief he went through. The collection is really short. The words are deep and meaningful. Please do not rush through the words. Take it slowly. At times, it might be really difficult to get through some of the lines but somehow that's alright.
I was expecting much more from this one. And it ended way too soon.

Thanks #NetGalley for the copy of #TheWillies

I cannot begin to understand or attempt to understand the struggles the author went through in their life. It is at points difficult to read, but well written. This is the story of a young mans life growing up with the struggles of people understand and coming to terms with him being gay, and the struggle he goes through To share this with those he loves. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am not really into poetry, but darn if I don't keep trying. I enjoyed some of the poems, but it's still just not my favorite medium.

i started this book with an open mind, but i ended up quite disappointed. many reviewers have mentioned that the collection touches on race as a theme, but really, it's about whiteness and grappling with black cultural appropriation. everyone has their journey and i don't want to undermine the individual work that the author may be doing, but the collection itself is unsuccessful in capturing the intricacies of this sensitive issue. the collection covers many other themes (queerness, alcoholism, mental health, etc) but i'm disappointed at how Black culture has been used to frame white guilt. a quick glance at the notes page reflects the myriad of Black cultural workers the writer borrowed lines from for this collection without really delving into the issue of privilege, institutional racism, and how power works within these contexts. without pondering the context in which the writer/speaker is making choices to perform blackness, the poems are flat and perpetuate the very concerns the poems attempt to subvert. i would not recommend this collection.

Falkner's poetry was so vivid and entrancing I felt myself unable to put the collection down. It's a work that opens up to an array of themes and subjects such as coming out, race, growing up and family relationships, I'll be looking out for this book in stores and recommending it to anyone I think would be interested.

Thanks to NetGalley, Button Poetry and the author of this collection for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Adam Falkner has a way of painting a clear picture with just his words. Falkner explores his sexuality, alcoholism, race and white privilege, and his family relationships both past and present in this collection.