This collection of perry brought to you by Elana Wolff was good for the most part. It was written with some real beautiful parts but other parts felt forced and just didn't fit.

This poetry collection was unfortunately not for me.

While there were some deeply intellectually poems in here relating to nature, the future, identity, and self, I still had a hard time connecting to any of them, and the flow and writing style just wasn't my style nor for me.

I believe this collection is for some people, as people draw something very different from poetry individually, and so I definitely feel that a great many people will be able to connect with and draw emotion from any number of poems in this book.

Just not my cup of tea.

Everything Reminds You of Something Else is a collection of poetry that focuses on relationships, how we view them, the connections between people and how our experiences can change the light in which we view our relationships. I found this a quick and interesting read.

For a really colorful cover, I was hoping for a more entertaining read with a bit more oomph? Unfortunately, my eyes pretty much glossed over as I read through this collection. 

I think a lot of the pieces lacked depth, not in the sense that they totally lacked meaning but in the sense that they seemed to not have any relational significance. The poems just felt really disjointed from anything, in my opinion. I wanted to establish some kind of connection with them, but I never did.

I really struggled with this collection, and if I'm being honest, I don't really remember any highlights or memorable passages. Despite that, I think this is really just a case of it's-not-you, it's-me. I'm fairly certain other readers would appreciate Everything Reminds You of Something Else more than I did.

Disclosure: I received a digital ARC of Everything Reminds You of Something Else from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 3 stars

I had kind of expectations from this poetry collection, but yes it failed miserably. I have never read much complex poetry, so this collection was more a sort of "not for me". From the first poem itself I was not able to understand anything. The poet used so many complex words that it made it more difficult to understand. Apart from 2-3 poems I was not able to connect to anything and they just went over my head because of the hard language.

This book is certainly not for the people like me who enjoys reading poetry of Rupi Kaur or Alicia Cook. But yes if you can easily relate to a difficult kind of poetry, then you can certainly try this. As I said they didn't really work for me but they might be for you.

I'm very into poetry and I either really love or really hate a poetry book, but I felt very...indifferent about this, which doesn't happen much. The words just felt like words. I didn't think they were BAD, I just didn't find them resonant. I don't know if it's because I was the wrong person to read this book, or if it just was the book itself, but regardless, it wasn't for me.

Poetry is incredibly hard to critique because each individual reader’s experience is unique. Everyone gets something different out of it, and a style that might work for one reader might not work for another. This is one of those collections that I believe really backs these things up. Wolff’s writing is very beautiful and I’m sure, for that reason, there are many people who would enjoy her work. Her unique view of the world shines through in the way she interprets and records small snapshots of life. Her imaginative and whimsical style is juxtaposed against her use of more serious topics and issues. However, for me, this particular collection fell a bit flat and did not affect me in the way I think it was meant to. 

To be completely honest, I did not understand many of the poems in this particular collection. What would normally be an extremely quick read took me much longer than anticipated, since I was attempting to decipher some sort of meaning in each obscure poem. There were only a handful that I understood, and the rest felt very choppy and disjointed. I spent most of my reading experience feeling very confused and searching for so much more than I was able to find. I love diving into and interpreting complex poetry, but this style of writing did not click with me, making it just a bit too difficult to understand. Though Wolff’s writing is clearly skilled and her style may work for some readers, I was unfortunately not one.

It felt choppy and altogether not for me. Not for me, but that happens sometimes.

A great collection of poetry. The writing is wonderful and conjured up really great imagery. Recommended for fans of complex poetry.

I think I've burned myself out on poetry books because I wasn't really feeling this one so much.  There were a few poems and lines that I did like, but most of her references flew over my head.

A thought-provoking metaphorical masterpiece.

I would start with saying the title explains it all. Everything does remind you of something else and this collection made me feel and experience that more than anything. There's a poem in here that incorporated topics like transgender, suicide, eating disorders using animals (at least I think that was what it was), if this didn't convince you already to read this collection I don't know what will. The best thing about this collection was how allusive it was - no boundaries, no clear-cut meanings, everything a practical mystery - every piece was what meaning you gave to it and what lessons you learned from it, the author didn't tell you anything, didn't impose anything. Accomplishing this in poetry is not only difficult but incredible and I absolutely adore the author for this. 

Vivid imagery and excellent use of metaphors - the practical highlight of this collection that made even the intangible, dense poetry pieces beautiful and beloved. The power of a metaphor is so thoroughly explored in this book, I can't even! There were times I could hardly believe how the simplest of ideas were transformed into complex, meaningful matter, by appropriately making use of this neglected figurative device. It impressed me. Period. 

The themes of this collection are so random and relatable; it includes everything from nature, weather, love, eating disorders, body image, mental health, everyday routine things (going to the bar, art gallery, for a walk), perceptive musings - just a sundry assortment of everything I could possibly think of, written in a form that I loved to bits. Special mention to important themes like looking beyond material reality, that are hardly probed in the collections I've read and were put together in this collection so effortlessly. I don't really focus on the titles while reading poetry collections, but this collection changed that because the titles were not only a key factor in understanding the piece but crafted masterfully to be so apt and fitting for every single piece.

The structure of the poetry was unique and captivating as well; it was filled with constantly changing formats which was refreshing. The use of visual symbols like these ">" "<" was frequent and for some reason even though it reminded me of mathematics which I hate, I still liked it. See, there is an example of "everything reminds you of something else" - amazing poetry reminded me of the subject I loathed haha.

“out of form > disorder” – Riding to Ronda (one of the best examples)

However, this collection was simultaneous with forgettable for me. Even though the poetry was beautiful, except some favourite pieces (Metamorphoses, The Stunt Bear, The Bell Tree, Lo, Update on nearness, Thin Girl, Meridian, Elemental, Think of a name for the bird in the glossy photo, K, Belt of living things: A Zodiac Suite, Cuy, Strand, World Light), nothing really stuck with when I really wanted it to. I really really wanted it to. Maybe it's just me and my disintegrating memory. Although, a short collection, it took me quite some time to devour it because of the fact that the poetry didn't give itself away easily; I had to scour through each piece to understand it and though at the very least, it was an adventure in itself, and I honestly enjoyed it, at times, it was annoying to some extent as well. Poetry doesn't usually takes me this much time to read and this did but that can also be accounted for this being a riveting collection. I don't know. I'm conflicted here. 

Furthermore, Wolff has a habit of switching from one thing to another in a poem frequently and even though most of the time it made sense, there were times when I was left completely confused which was devastating. I did notice that this collection had an added surprise for me: exquisite vocabulary, yay! I realize though that the complicated words and syntax might not be everyone's cup of tea and did make this collection less tangible (even I had to search the meanings of some words), thus, that and the out of the blue fillers in this collection added to this being a 4 star instead of a 5 star read. 

Overall, Wolff's voice is original and elegant and this collection is definitely worth a read but I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to poetry for a non-poetry reader, it's too complex to be that.

Personally this turned out to not be a book I really connected with.  I love poetry but I'm really still discovering what kind of poetry that is.

I'm not really the biggest fan of this collection. To me, there wasn't much that linked them together as a collection and half of the poems made no sense. The writing also wasn't my style. There were a couple poems that stood out to me, but the rest are forgettable. Maybe someone else would enjoy it more, but I personally didn't.

It took me a while to get through this one because it was crazy how the poet used SO MANY complex words! I think half of these poems just went over my head because I couldn’t understand them.

I mean, I did enjoy the way the poems were written but because they were so fancy, I couldn’t really fall in love with any of them.

For me the beauty of poems lies in it’s simplicity so this poetry collection was not my cup of tea. However, if you enjoy fancy words then definitely pick this one up. It could be a bit of a pain for people who don’t generally enjoy poetry but don’t let that stop you from trying it out.

This is one of my favorite books now. I just love the way the author wrote this story. And somehow I found lots of similarity with my own life in this book. I definitely recommend it to everyone to read it. :))

"Everything Reminds You of Something Else" is infused with startlingly beautiful imagery from start to finish. 

 "She comes to the seaside, air salts slick her skin like kith and kindling." 

"Clouds - narrow, white as femurs - flowing over the city." 


 The intimate poems stand out. This excerpt from "Cord" struck me in particular.

          "When the diagnosis arrived,
we flew to a city of history and art,
visited galleries, stood before works

            that made life look edgeless. 

 
The poems where the metaphoric and symbolic transcendence of the words meet with the grit of reality are the most satisfying and engaging.  

 On every page, within the rich collage of words appear ethereal references to a collective mythology, the dreaming state of the earth:

"A mountain goat
ascends at dawn, leaping through the nimbus, lights jug of milk on his pelage, snow in his coat. 

He holds to higher note (as in Sharach is Hananiah). And on his breast - a locket
taking off."

I appreciated the inclusion of a diverse glossary of references to the books and poems which had inspired the work.

Elana Wolff is a celebrated award winning Canadian writer, in addition to “Everything Reminds You of Something Else” she has written several collections of poetry and a book of essays. With other poets she has co-produced additional volumes of poetry, and translated some into French and Hebrew. Dividing her professional time she has taught English at York University in Toronto, and at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Whether Wolff turns her attention to mindfulness that feature the natural elements of nature, animals, earthly motion, atmospheric conditions, or a summer voodoo lily plant-- her writing highlights imagery of linear poetry styles. Favorite poets Rilke (Elegy of Six), multiple sections of Franz Kafka’s, and the strength of Biblical Sampson were mentioned.
The poem “Cord” describes gasses, heat, radiation: (the song) “We Are Stardust”  Wolff continues on to say we are bats, roses, and poetry. A diagnosis arrived (not specified) and a visit to an art museum followed, (at an unnamed location) where paintings, watercolors of ships were seen, with conflicting waves.  The poem “Thin Girl” tells us about an anorexic girl, who is taunted by a stranger, spritzes and perfumes herself while wondering if she would be more lovable if her hair were longer.  “Elemental” is a poem of abstract sadness, the glowing wings of a bird (from the book): “Lithium was in the beginning,/ elementally light. Its salts have happened down/to us as remedy for depression. We have slept by the black dog.” The poem then moves to the direction of a pond, the souls who love the shape of a name. 

Other poems titled “Air”- “Meridian” – “Promontory” –“Azimuth” – “Quadriptych” opens with “Come midnight friends and fill up the bar.” before dissolving into a smoky observations of distortion. “Think of a Name for the Bird in the Glossy Photo” -- while working on a collage art project, (at 2:00 am) the artist reflects on madness. “The Innocent Spin of Dreaming Real” and “Theory of Dreaming” – of finding solace in a winter garden, ”Lifetimes pour before me”.  A hunchback girl, air thickness, dissolving into a paranormal experience. 
I could use one word to describe my first impression of this collection: “Trippy”.  It is helpful for readers to have basic knowledge of mental illness, as Wolff doesn’t directly address the subject matter of mental or emotional instability. Read carefully, these poems fit together for the best and highest level of understanding. ~ With appreciation to Guernica Editions Inc. via NetGalley for the direct e-copy for the purpose of review.

Meta Power: Metamorphosis and Metaphor in Wolff’s Poetic World
	Elana Wolff’s Everything Reminds You of Something Else invites us to enter a poetic world where every word is heavy with meaning. Every poem in the collection moves us to pause and think critically about our lives. In particular, as we open the door of this world, come in, and close it softly behind us, we may realize that our key to finding our way is through connections. Every poem we read pushes us to forge powerful connections and draw lines even if they are just lines in the sand. What is interesting is that the book helps us grasp the value and power of metaphor. Suddenly, the simplest ideas become absolutely essential for us both to understand and evaluate. In our modern-day reality, staying connected may seem absolutely vital for us. We must make connections between ideas. Wolf’s poetry collection revives our interest in ideas that we might have forgotten about. In fact, I believe that the value of this book lies precisely in its focus on connections. The book opens with a series of quotes one of which is from Kafka’s The Trial. The quotation comes at the end of the novel where K. is speaking to the chaplain. The chaplain tells him, “Your anxiety … I see in it a lack of necessary faith” (ix). Every poem in the book pushes us to realize the miraculous power of faith without which we are simply not alive, not in the fullest sense of the word. Essentially, every poem offers commentary on the power of faith.
	One of the themes that some of the poems emphasize is the healing influence of prayer. The poems help us realize that prayer has more power than we may think. We get the sense that it could help us find a voice, an outlet for the pain inside. In “A Panegyric,” we realize that no matter how sincerely we plead and ask to be healed, our prayers could only end up torturing us. The act of praying can potentially free us from slavery but, for that, we need to find a way to escape our oppressors. The poem’s message also lies precisely in its focus on the strength of the prayer. In addition, the silent prayer in our hearts cannot fail to finally find an outlet for self-expression.Wolff writes that “[t]he pursuers withdraw to the citadel, / relieve their arms of upward gesture / Dusk descends / they lower their heads as well” (ix). In these lines, we sense that the pursuers are looking for peace, a chance to raise their arms in prayer and heal the pain inside. As we read, we may feel the urge to find healing, to finally get comforted. What this poem and many others seem to be telling us is that prayer has the power to do just that — to heal our pain and to help us find hope in the end. 
	In addition, some of the other poems in the book call on us to question what is real and unreal for us. One of the poems suggests that reality could actually not be material, after all. According to the poem “Air,” “Most of what is real is immaterial” (25). Consequently, we must look beyond our material reality in order to understand what is real. What the poem does not do is help us find a solution, a way to mitigate the pain. The speaker suggests that “[i]f you can accept air, you can accept beings of air; / you can accept the shadow / air holds in its nothingness and its light” (25). She places an enormous responsibility on our shoulders. We must try to look beyond our material reality and experience the world around us through more than just our senses. The speaker goes even further to suggest that we can and probably should accept both air and shadow as well as the inhabitants of both realms. The poem urges us to stop clinging blindly to our material reality and focus on seeing with our mind’s eye, Wordsworth’s “inward eye / which is the bliss of solitude.” Even though the airy realm in the poem may be difficult for us to relate to, we must try to accept both beings of light and shadow.  
	Some of the poems discuss the theme of metamorphosis. It is one of the central themes that they share. One of the poems specifically addresses metamorphosis, especially the process of slowly becoming human. In the poem “Metamorphoses,” the speaker argues that “[s]ome are born human, most have to humanize slowly, / I want to say I’m on my way > at this point, pelican; / in time, perhaps, writer” (8). These lines might really surprise us, since the idea of working on becoming human might sound completely disorienting. It even seems incongruous that we must work on becoming human when we are supposed to have been born that way. The idea of metamorphosis, however, implies that as we grow and educate ourselves, we gradually become human. In other words, the central message seems to be that we should keep working on ourselves. Eventually, if we work hard enough, we might become human. While this idea may disorient us, its merit lies precisely in how hard the individual works in order to become an intelligent human and not just a mammal who is trying to survive. In the speaker’s case, she says that she slowly acquires human form as she metamorphoses from pelican to writer. The only issue is that the poem does not explain why some of us are born human, while others have to humanize. 
	The poetry collection motivates us to stretch our minds so we can see connections between our own experiences and the themes in these poems. We take our humanity for granted. We do not imagine that we have to actually work on becoming human. The poems, however, push us to realize that this process is as important as being alive. Not only must we work on humanizing. We could even attempt to see life like in a dream and strive hard to realize that “The great thing is the no thing that is not” (9). In other words, greatness is something we have not attained yet and have not been able to so far — not just yet. Nonetheless, the possibility exists for us and we could get closer to it by making connections. Metaphor is our key. We must give our imagination free reign. Perhaps, in the end, we still may attain clarity.