A collection of poems about depression and mental health. This is the first time i have read a book of poetry about this subject, but as s sufferer myself i was eager to read it. I read the book in one sitting, enjoying some poems more than others. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in return for an honest review.

*I received this book from NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

If you struggle with depression or know someone who does, this book is for you! I was aware of Benaim through some of her performance poetry videos and she has somehow given the same amazingly real voice to the struggle with depression in this book. Benaim writes beautifully and truthfully from her soul. I am definitely recommending this book and am planning on buying a hardcopy for myself even though I already have an ebook of it!

I am not sure how I had not heard of Sabrina Benaim previously, but this was my first experience with her work. I am looking forward to more from her! These poems were really raw and heartfelt. There were many that spoke to me about anxiety and depression. I would recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys modern poetry and especially those who struggle with depression or who want to better understand those who do.

Overall, this book is just an okay read for me but Sabrina Benaim did manage to hit me in the gut a few times especially with 'explaining my depression to my mother', which resonated with me. 'follow-up a prayer / a spell' is another piece that is basically written for me / about me, and so is 'seven small ways in which i loved myself this week'.

Really a mixed bag; I did enjoy the different types of poetry presented in this collection but a lot of the times they feel either neutrally or completely flat.

A Carefully Crafted Collection

This book ended too soon. I was so completely caught up in Benaim's word choice, her natural story telling prose. Every line provoked an emotion, a thought, but most often a fleeting memory. It was art. As a Button Poetry fan, I had already heard of Sabrina Benaim from her performance of "Explaining my depression to my mother" (which is included in this book). This was the reason I chose to read this book, I had found that incredibly intense. I loved it, just as I did this book.

Depression & Other Magic Tricks is for anyone who has been feeling lonely, or finding it more difficult to get out of bed recently, or perhaps suffering from depression themselves... Not all of it made sense to me, but a part of me always understood. Sabrina Benaim's words cover anything from lost love, making sense of love, bitter heartache and the sweet feelings of nostalgia. I especially related to her yearning to be able to control her emotions, but then wanting others to see how she truly felt when she didn't have the words to simply say. As well as her joy when she woke to the feeling that today would be a good day. That feeling is so very underrated. Then there was the poem "Girl behind you" which as a short woman, I could completely understand.

Benaim's writing reminded me how much I enjoyed listening to spoken word, the stories performed so emotively. I just loved the retrospective nature of her writing, as though those feelings really were both in the past and the present. This is a lovely collection.

I received this book through NetGalley.

I read this book in one sitting, even when I hadn't planned on reading much at all. I was just going to read a poem or two to see how I felt about the book. I was sucked right in. The poems are touching, heartbreaking, and hard to read at times, because I relate to them so much. The poem about explaining depression to your mother really resonated with me. 

The writing style is different if you do not read a lot of poetry. I could feel the emotion and pain behind the words, even for the poems I could not personally understand. 

Beautifully written.

This review will be posted within the next couple weeks. I've queried to a few literary journals. If one prints it, I'll reprint or link to it on Goodreads, Facebook and my blog. If I haven't heard back in 1-2 weeks, I've scheduled to post it on GR, FB, and my blog. Wanted to go ahead and get this to you as the 3-month archiving window approaches. (I only joined NetGalley recently.) Thank you for letting me read it!

Recently I read the new poetry collection DEPRESSION & OTHER MAGIC TRICKS, by Sabrina Benaim (Button Poetry, 2017). Wow. I’ve returned to the book half a dozen times.

The collection has about 50 poems, and the spoken word/prose poems shine. They’re interspersed with micro-poems (1-2 lines each) and found/erasure poems. Benaim is a performance poet from Canada; her publisher, Button Poetry, specializes in performance poets. I’d read another one of their books in a second.

I’m maybe five years older than Benaim. Like her, I survived depression and anxiety. (I’m still surviving them.) Her poems about grief spoke to me like gangbusters. They were sad and funny at once. “when I say my feelings are a box of chocolates, I mean I like to eat them." (and now you know me a little better, dear reader!) 

My favorite poem was the first one, called “first date.” Benaim writes, “thank you is the biggest poem I've got inside of me.” Other poems that stood out were “explaining my depression to my mother: a conversation,” “the slow now,” “so my friend tells me she identifies as a mermaid…,” “dear Beyoncé (II),” and “last friday.”

At her best, Benaim picks a word from one sentence and repeats it in a sentence that follows, with new context. The poems leap from thought to thought, every nailed landing a hit of dopamine and delight. From her bio, I understand that Benaim’s one of the most watched poets of all time on YouTube. After I read the first poem I looked her up. Benaim’s delivery was completely different from how I read her poems aloud to a friend, yet (I think) there was validity to both readings. The words stand on their own.

The weakest poems were about breaking up with a boyfriend. There’s a fair amount of “girl loses boy, girl misses boy.” I made a note to myself that said, “Argh, so many poems about boys, I just want to say, GIRL. Do you. Be you. Notice yourself for a while.” …then I turned the page, read the next poem, and marked it as another favorite.

I’d guess that people who enjoyed Amanda Lovelace's poetry collection, THE PRINCESS SAVES HERSELF IN THIS ONE, might also enjoy Benaim’s poetry. 

I’m so glad to have read this book. 

Bonus quotes from Sabrina Benaim…

“my heart is a messy bedroom I always distract myself from cleaning.”

“when I tell you I've been super busy lately, I mean I've been falling asleep watching sportscenter on the couch to avoid confronting the empty side of my bed."

“turning her heart inside out, the way she showed me, to wear her softness as a bullet proof vest."

“my depression is a shapeshifter; one day it is as small as a firefly in the palm of a bear, the next, it's the bear. Those days I play dead until the bear leave me alone."

“time is a holy catastrophe of heirloom clock faces that don't fit my wrists.” 

“my swagger has moves like it sleeps in a waterbed.”

Mixed feelings about this one. Some of the poetry was beautiful and relatable, but some of it was more mediocre and repetitive. I had higher expectations of this collection. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unlike many of the people who have read this, I didn't know anything about the author. This book is a poetry collection and I liked some poems but the form was a bit odd for my liking. However I did feel a connection with it and I enjoyed it overall. With that being said I don't know if I can give it 4 stars or more.

Absolutely beautiful. So raw and emotional, I absolutely loved it. Can't recommend it enough.

I had such high hopes, because I loved "Explaining Depression to my Mother". But this poetry book was such a dissapointment in my opinion. I didn't connect with any other poem, so this book didn't meet my high expectations at all. 

This book isn't memorable at all and I didn't like it.

This poetry collection is witty and sharp and sort of spiky. Each piece packs a punch; some leave you reeling, others help you back up again afterwards. Of course depression is different for everyone, but Benaim’s impressive articulation of her experiences rang true for me. 

'My depression is a shape shifter;
One day it is as small as a firefly in the palm of a bear,
The next, it’s the bear
Those days I play dead until the bear leaves me alone' 

The collection as a whole follows a beautiful arc. Her tone, at times angry, at times frustrated, at times sarcastic, veers away from defeatism, and climbs towards something that feels more determined. I loved the poem 'Seven small ways in which I loved myself this week' for its smallness and simultaneous bigness. 

And ultimately, the final lines come as an affirmation, a sign to move forwards, and leave you feeling energised. 

I exhale/ & I begin

DEPRESSION & OTHER MAGIC TRICKS is a raw, honest depiction of a young girl's struggle with depression and the ways love intersects with mental illness. The poetry was a good mix of prose and verse, short and long, with enough variety that even if you didn't like one style, there were plenty of other styles to read. The simplicity of everyday life with a mental illness is the strongest aspect of the volume of poetry, and what I best related to.

Though some of the poems felt like they would be best spoken, not written, and the length could be long, each poem was bubbling with emotion and heartache. I'd recommend this to people in the process of healing, from either depression or love gone wrong.

After seeing a few of Sabrina Benaim's slam poetry performances on YouTube, I was extremely excited to get a copy of this book through NetGalley. Having extreme depression and anxiety myself, I was eager to find some pieces of poetry I could heavily relate to. Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed with this collection. A majority of the works were focused on a failed relationship instead of mental illness. I've been through my fair share of hard break ups and, for whatever reason, I still had a difficult time relating to those pieces. Maybe it's because relationship poetry wasn't really what I thought this collection would focus on so I wasn't in the mood or prepared for it. There were a few pieces that I really related to and loved which is why I'm still giving three stars. It isn't bad poetry by ANY means, it's just clear that Sabrina Benaim and I personally deal with our mental illnesses differently so it was hard for me to relate. I've heard some people also had difficulty relating while others bawled their eyes out the entire time, so it's definitely personal preference with this poetry collection.

This is a wonderful collection. I loved the poet's way with words. There are times when you feel something but don't know how to express it. You may not know how to explain your thoughts to others because you can't find the right words or the closest metaphor. Sabrina Benaim nails such emotions and views with beautiful imagery.

Sometimes, you may be confused about your own feelings and books can help you process them and understand yourself. That is what this poetry collection did to me. Part of it was relatable. Part of it was moving. All of it was beautiful. Highly recommended.

Benaim's Depression and Other Magic Tricks is a well thought collection of her poems. Most of the poems revolve around her own life, love and hardships and she managed to avoid sounding artsy, which is awesome. Especially I enjoyed that love wasn't the main theme in a romantic way, but more like wanting to let go and starting anew. We get to enter inside the head of the poet and Benaim chooses her words carefully. She uses expressions that open up new doors to the poems and many times I was astonished how much it matters how you say stuff, compare them and how to represent them even if their nature is simple. 

Depression and Other Magic Tricks is a whole collection with a story in it and at the same time there isn't one. It makes us interpret it and see things how we want to without giving the interpretation fully to us. The poems are meaningful, witty and funny even at times and at the same time they tell about the world more than we could imagine. I liked the rhythm and how everything was constructed without being too cryptic still. I highly recommend to try this.