Loner Forensics is a thematic wasteland of 80's inspired poetry that has flair and style, but ends up falling flat due to formatting decisions. I could have loved this collection if not for the almost unreadable style at points. I'm all for poetry that breaks boundaries but I also find that it can distract from what is being said. Brown's rich and electric metaphor was overwhelmed by line spacing and poems flipped on their sides. I would love to take this collection and smooth it out gently to see what is really there waiting to be read.

My favorite poems are: "The Palm Reader", "The Weather", and "The Dancer."

I read this book as an eARC (digital book) and some of the formatting didn't really work in that format, so I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book for a better experience.

Loner Forensics is a unique collection of poems. The different texts, like characters, interact with one another in a sort of continual conversation, with some poems having holes and missing parts that are filled on later pages.

Loner Forensics is an investigation, through a series of questionings, descriptions of places and introspective interactions. The author builds this town of characters and the reader plays the detective, collecting accounts of all these people's lives.

Although I would recommend this collection to anyone, particular rec for enjoyers of Welcome to Night Vale (same vibes).

Thank you NetGalley and Northwestern University Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Added notes
Some of my favourite poems:
The Amateurs, The Weather, The Forensics Team, The Framer, The Florist, The Diplomat, The Stenographer, The Collector
Reminds me of Infinite Ground by Martin MacInnes in regards to the questioning and getting answers that feel so disconnected (highest of compliments, love MacInnes' writing)

First, I'm so thankful to Thea Brown, Northwestern Univerisity Press, and NetGalley for granting me advanced access to this collection of poetry and prose detailing the most emotionally depressing details of adult-life. Loner Forensics is set to hit shelves on May 15, 2023.

I loved this collection so much. I love it when a poetry collection has a clear idea, premise, or theme, so this was perfect for me. I loved the vertical poems. I loved the writing style. Some poems were dense, and this took a while to read, but it was worth it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for this ebook in exchange for a honest review.

To be completely honest, the format of this anthology did not work well for me as an e-book. What with the parallel prose and unconventional formatting, I didn’t enjoy the reading experience on my phone. This is totally a “me-problem” and something I was unaware I would struggle with before requesting this title. I found it hard to relate to the poetry and it took me out of a heart space and more into a headspace if that makes sense. I really appreciate the chance to read this work, but unfortunately did not connect with it.

Loner Forensics is a poetry collection that paints a picture of a city, through the voices of those who live there, under the guise of investigative interviews. Most of the poems are titled as "The" somebody, telling different snippets of stories and playing around with form on the page and use of gaps and space.

I found the collection hard to get into at first, with a distinctive style that you need to get into the groove of, and the opening didn't immediately give me a sense of what was going on. After finishing the collection, I returned to the start, and found it much easier to get along with, so this could be a book to take your time with and find the rhythm of, or at least to reread. I think rereading further might also bring out more of the interconnectedness that you can glimpse in the poems, gradually building up more of a sense of the whole.

A number of the poems are written vertically rather than horizontally on the page and I found these very difficult to read digitally on my laptop - I couldn't tell if this was intentional, if these were meant to be harder to read than the others, or not, but it did make me a bit frustrated when I was already finding it hard to 'get' the poems. However, as I read more of the collection, there weren't too many, and I got more into the poems, so it didn't completely put me off.

Probably my favourite poem was 'The Pollster' because I loved the use of the survey format within the interview format and the way in which it seemed both mundane and deep. I enjoyed where the poems played around with forms based on the person being interviewed, and I think that on further reads there's probably a lot more to unravel from this collection, but I'm not sure I was able to get into it enough on my first reading, feeling maybe fittingly a bit lost. There's such a vibe and atmosphere in the book, one that does almost defy understanding, and I appreciate that even though I think I'll need more time with it.

It took me 3 poems to get into the grove of this collection. Lots of unique formats that make my brain work for the story. I enjoyed trying to both relate and unriddle the poems. Halfway through the collection I felt like I was fluently reading a different language! Love the forensics/detective spin on things. The title and cover are what drew me to request. Thank you Thea Brown and the publishers for allowing me to read this.

My favorite poems were: THE MAYOR, THE CURATOR, THE FLORIST, THE JOURNALIST, THE COLLECTOR, THE RUNNER, and THE VISITOR IN THE HILLS.

I’m the first tor ate and review this one, but caution, dear readers…
I tend to preface poetry reviews by saying that I’m not a fan of modern poetry. I do try, I read at least one collection a month, but more often than not, it just doesn’t work for me.
This one attracted me by its title and description–I like thematic collections of all sorts, I like forensics, I can relate to shifting perspectives of city life.
But then I began reading it and thinking…is this even poetry? I know the format has come a long way since Shakespearean days, but this is SO FAR from its origin source, how is this even poetry? These dense paragraphs are stylized and have some sort of rhythm to them, but they don’t look or read like poetry.
And then, I wasn’t in love with their contents either. A much as I appreciated the concept, I don’t think the execution did it justice. Too…ephemeral? Too something.
Sorry, I should probably be clearer. Sit around and wax poetic about why this poetic endeavor didn’t sing for me, but in the end of the day, poetry is rather like music, it either resonates with you or it doesn’t. And this one certainly didn’t leave me tapping feet or singing along.
It’s unique enough to probably find its audience somewhere. I'll round up the rating to be nice and out of respect for the concept. Thanks Netgalley.