A really great poetry collection. It took a step away from the current "insta poetry" and really connects with classic poetry.

I saw a lot of reviews saying it was too abstract, however, I thought this is what made the poetry book important, classic, and amazing.

Writing is okay, not a book I will say I can relate to. I don't find this work of poetry to be memorable. Through this would make a great coffee table book for the beautiful cover.

A challenging collection of poems more for readers familiar with literary poetry than popular works. However, Prikryl composes involved lyrics and vast narrative sweeps that would dizzy even the most seasoned poetry reader. A superb collection

The cold hard autopsy of the anonymity of a city. Poems examine isolation but also another city in between here and there. It is a fascinating examination of the other. While there are some powerful poems here, it is hard to get to them.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of poems brings cityscapes to life. Emotions and the nature of a city can mimic each other - who would've thought


The poems ooze the love the author feels for cities like New York, London, and Dublin. She doesn't sugarcoat them. She presents them raw and vulnerable. There is admiration and hate. There is praise and criticism. Prikryl does an excellent job drawing parallels between the inner workings of a large urban metropolis and the readers (and her own) inner emotional turmoil. Her descriptions of places by utilizing phrases we associate with illustrating emotions worked perfectly for this collection and seemed unusual to me. I will be reading more of her work in the future.

I was interested in the concept of the collection, but overall I wasn't intrigued by the writing style. Personally, I enjoy poetry that flows well (doesn't have to stick to conventional structure, but the story it is telling should flow well), and unfortunately this didn't in my opinion.

I would like to first begin with the warning that poetry is not for everyone. It is almost always fiercely personal, especially poetry of the modern political variety. I could find myself in a few of these pieces, but not all, and I didn't intend to. I appreciated the art for what ti was--beautiful, flowering and intensely moving. I'm beginning to see there's a detriment to the popularity of short-and-sweet Instagram poets. Literary criticism seems to fall on deaf ears in the face of a three-line stanza that anyone can relate to. Not to say there's no quality in that--being relatable does not equate to being simple. No Matter by Prikryl is not simple.

this collection was really impressive. it’s like a landscape where the medium is poetry. prikryl did a fantastic job of capturing urban environments, especially in the “waves” poems. not just the physicality of it, but the way people are here. her “anonymous” poems describing people were some of my favorites, as well. the circular nature of the collection’s structure was really effective in highlighting her keen observations. my copy had some confusing wording, but that might just be because I didn’t have the final version. this author’s poetic style is very modern and gripping. I enjoyed reading this book. thanks to netgalley, crown publishing, and tim duggan books for providing me with this ARC.

I enjoy poetry in its many creative forms of expression. Some is easily read, some takes some work to understand, and some just give me a headache! Unfortunately, for me, this collection falls in the last category I mentioned.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of this collection in exchange for an unbiased review. Opinions stated here are my own.

This was a really interesting read. I'm so glad I got to read this galley, and I highly recommend it to others.

I've noticed a lot of books recently where authors use a more poetic style to tell a story. This is not that sort of book. Jana Prikryl uses the pages of her book to highlight individual poems. I enjoyed being able to flip through her book without having to follow a plot. Prikryl's poetry tends to have rhythm as well, which makes for an interesting read.

I gave this a one out of five stars. I didn’t connect to any of the poems, or like them. I found this poetry collection to be boring. I had a hard time getting into it, it was putting me to sleep.

A stunning collection from a brilliant author. Poignant writing, broad topics, and lyrical style that begs to be read. Must read for all poetry lovers.

I just could not get into this book of poetry. It was almost too oblique, and I found myself searching for meaning. There were a few poems that I could relate to, but for the most part, it just was not my cup of tea. I could appreciate some of Prikryl's clever language and there were a few poems that made sense to me, but overall I just found many to be trying too hard. Poetry is hard to review. What appeals to one person has no appeal to the next. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher, Crown/Penguin.

There is a lot to love about No Matter. Jana Prikryl shares intimate and intricate verses. I love how sometimes the titles lead in as the first lines and how not all of the poems look and feel the same. There is freedom in these poems, as well as description and imagery.

I started reading No Matter by Jana Prikryl not knowing at all what to expect. What I did not want was more poetry of heartbreak. I wanted poetry that worked with language not only to connect with the reader, but also to absolutely confuse them. Jana Prikryl does just this, and I cannot be more grateful for such a master of language.

I had picked this book of poetry from a selection of titles on NetGalley because of its description on the website: “Set in cities toppling past the point of decline-and-fall--Rome, London, Dublin, and most of all New York--these poems capture the experience of being human in the late days of empire, when the laws protecting weak from strong are being torn away.” As a classicist studying ancient Roman literature and myth, this seemed right up my alley.

It is true that most of these poems are set in New York - and I probably would understand them better if I knew more about New York culture and geography - but many of the poems are set against language that evokes ancient myth and history. The physical descriptions of the city also use language that hints at archaism, especially the use of “brownstone” to describe the bridges and buildings.

The theme of most of Prikryl’s poems reminds me of The Aeneid, my particular area of study - ergo my interpretation of these poems focuses mostly on that. Prikryl compares New York to Troy in her poem “Ambitious”, telling how heroes pass through and make the city his own and that of his own people (an allusion to Aeneas’ journey from Troy to Italy). Prikryl also features well-known characters from this epic. The character that shows up in the titles of many of the poems is the Sibyl, an oracle who helped Aeneas on his journey into the Underworld. Here she is presiding over what seems to be the change of cities and the people described in these poems. In the second-to-last poem, also called “Sibyl”, there is imagery that alludes to things, especially plants, that grow in the Underworld. Dido is another character from the Aeneid who is featured in this book, exactly twice. With her we see what could’ve happened between Aeneas and Dido if he had to redo his actions. The fact that Prikryl uses the Sibyl more than Dido as a featured voice is really interesting; it is possible that if Dido were the main voice there would be more reference to love rather than the change the Sibyl represents as the liminal figure between the Underworld and the world of the living. A symbol of change.

The way Prikryl uses language in these poems, besides the language that reference The Aeneid, is astounding. The manner in which she constructs her verses really draws the eye to what’s important. The way I feel reading it is how I imagine my own thoughts would look if they were written down on paper.

My biggest issue was understanding a lot of the poems, though I would say that is the way it is with most poetry. It is personal, and not every poem is meant for everyone (and, as I said before, I am sure New Yorkers would have a much easier time understanding). However, even if we don’t understand, I wholeheartedly recommend giving Prikryl’s verse a chance, even if just to enjoy the clever mastery of language and ancient allusions.

Quality of Writing: 9/10
Pace: 10/10
Plot Development: N/A
Characters: N/A
Enjoyability: 10/10
Insightfulness: 5/10
Ease of Reading: 3/10
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my first review for NetGalley.
Poetry is an art form that many people don't understand. Here's my opinion: poetry is a celebration of language, and does not need to be understood in order to be appreciated. Only about one eighth of the poems were dissectible into clear meanings, but they were still beautifully written. There were some that I loved in particular, that called out to my inner poet.
Altogether, a wonderful collection, but not for someone just getting into poetry.

Not my cup of tea. I could appreciate some of Prikryl's clever language and there were a few poems that seemed to have some life to them, but overall I just found these boring and generally "trying too hard."

“Now begins to rise in me the familiar rhythm; words that have lain dormant now lift, now toss their crests, and fall and rise, and falls again. I am a poet, yes. Surely I am a great poet.”
― Virginia Woolf, The Waves


No Matter by Jana Prikryl is the poet's second full-length collection of poetry. Prikryl earned her BA from the University of Toronto and her MA from New York University. Her poetry and criticism have been published in a variety of publications and journals. Currently, she is a senior editor at the New York Review of Books.

Prikryl combines the new and the old. Rich history meets with contemporary reason and artifacts. Sibyl claims she is no messenger but speaks cryptically in the poems.  Historically, how much different would things have been for Dido if she could have followed Aeneas' social media accounts when he left for Sicily.

Aeneas left by sea, and throughout the collection, the sea or the effects of the sea display themselves in many forms. The poems mention green oxygen, patina, Ishmel, and verdigris as visual indicators. The feeling of the sea is present in the repetition of the poem titles; reinforced by the poems titled "Waves." Repetition also exists in the repeating of phrases and clever wording that creates soft redundancy.

There is almost a Woolfish feeling to the poetry that goes beyond waves and whitecaps. There is the tide and the in and out movements that create the cyclic image of waves. Cities alluded to by landmarks rather than names are all places with rivers and tides. In the flow and rhythm of No Matter, the poet leaves small obstacles that challenge one's smooth sailing. Uncommon words represent hazards on a nautical chart that need addressing before passing, an unexpected break in the flow.

No Matter presents an enjoyable poetry experience that tends to a more traditional form and feeling — the words and repetition play on the reader's mind. No Matter may have a connection to the poetry beyond its more common connotation of unimportant. It may mean the absence of matter -- nothingness:

“I see nothing. We may sink and settle on the waves. The sea will drum in my ears. The white petals will be darkened with sea water. They will float for a moment and then sink. Rolling over the waves will shoulder me under. Everything falls in a tremendous shower, dissolving me.”
Virginia Woolf, The Waves.

Unfortunately, not available until July 23, 2019