Instructions for Traveling West felt like a bunch of mini love letters that so honestly and beautifully capture Joy's origin and evolution through this life thus far. Joy has a special way of whispering into your soul when you read her poems. I feel them in my bones and memories of my own metamorphosis as a woman is evoked. Joy's able to capture this feral joy of venturing into the unknown with her fresh language and unexpected metaphors. She's tender with grief and reckless with joy. I loved this collection of poems and encourage anyone on their own journey with themselves, whether that be North, East, South, or West, to use Instructions for Traveling West as a fearless guide into their unknown.

Thank you so much for the advance copy of Instructions for Travelling West. This is going down as one of my top reads of all time. Every single poem in this book truly spoke to me on a deep soul level and I will absolutely be reading and re-reading this collection over the years to come. 10 stars!

I can’t even begin to describe how much I LOVE this book! I read poetry every day and keep a handwritten journal of all my favorite poems. I just about needed a whole new one just for this collection! Not only that, but I’m finding it hard to get into a new book of poetry. It’s like I’m not ready to move on yet, still savoring this one.
Joy Sullivan’s debut collection is about fresh starts; heading off into a future that is unknown. She is bold, honest, tender and intimate. Her heart is open as she shares her innermost feelings on possibly remaining childless, the anxiety of a cancer scare, among others. Yet this book ultimately leaves you with a sense of joy and fulfillment; like you just ended a long phone call with a best friend. I will definitely be purchasing a finished copy for my personal library!

For fans of Maggie Smith, Sarah Kay, and Mary Oliver, Instructions for Traveling West is a new poetry collection that's an ode to fresh starts, human connection, and listening to yourself.

If you are a Millennial who is disaffected by capitalism and wishing for a change in life, pick this book up right now. I found myself highlighting many poems that spoke to me and that I'd like to revisit—isn't that all you can really ask of a collection? That they speak to something inside you, reflect some deeper truth?

This wasn't a perfect collection; there's a section in the middle containing Adam & Eve poems that detracted from the rest of the more personal explorations, and at times some poems stretched beyond tenderness and bordered on cheesy. But overall, I found this collection to be really compelling.

Standout poems:
* Long Division
* Safe
* (Luck I)
* Wind and Bread
* Mercy
* In the Office
* Giving Notice
* After Covid
* Instinct

4.5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’ve had this one sitting on my shelf for ages and I’ve realized I just needed the perfect moment for it. Joy’s poetry is playful and carries stories beautifully, but can touch both immense joy and sadness at the same time. As with all poetry I think you need to be in the right headspace for it to land, but as a single mid-thirties woman who finds meaning in travel, this collection struck right at my core.

To say Joy Sullivan's Instructions for Traveling West is uplifting (it is!) is too easy. It is a ferocious call to experience joy and embrace change told from the perspective of a paving tiger. Sullivan instructs through story and metaphor in these fine poems. I imagine readers like myself dipping in again and again.

Stunning collection - a tantalizing mix of beautifully written poetry. Read in one sitting, looking forward to returning to this collection down the line!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful poetry. Highly recommend this collection & I will be buy myself one for my collection. Absolutely loved it and how much I connected to/ felt the emotions within the writing.

"The last time I felt lucky was in fifth grade and my teacher was giving away a goldfish. She put all our names in a hat and miraculously drew mine. I was so excited, I cried. The fish only lived two weeks but, I loved him. It was years before I realized my teacher likely rigged the draw. Moments before, she had, in fact, whispered rather conspiratorially, that it just might be my lucky day. I was such a lonely kid and having a hell of a time adapting to the U.S. after living abroad and I think Mrs. Edelstein figured I could use a win. Of course the universe is full of deep magic, but I think most miracles can be traced back to someone’s profound and quiet kindness."

This collection of poems beautiful, thought-provoking, deeply emotional and full of joy. It was honest and raw. Each time I read something that makes me feel less alone in the world, I am grateful for the bravery of the author to share a piece of themselves in a way that reminds us that we are all connected and suffering and joyful together.

"What curses us are rarely witches. Instead, it’s the stories the shape of someone else’s fear."

There's so much beauty in these poems, so much rawness and honesty. Regardless of where you are in your journey to self, I am confident you will find something here that resonates with you.

"In the Office We wear thin armor, as if approaching war. During a meeting, a man explains why his ideas are good, perhaps brilliant. The days rifle past, full of paper cuts, nerves, and filing cabinets. The copier, a monstrosity, glares in the corner and waits to break. In the lobby, there is enough sugar to kill a horse. At the company party, the receptionist gets drunk and begins to weep. We sneak our joy in slices—on holidays and weekends, sandwiched between calendars and PTO. Vacations smear at the edges. Traffic eats us like ants. Work-life balance, someone says. Outside, our lives ring, unanswered."

Here's to answering the call of our lives.

with gratitude to Random House and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Joy is a delight. I started following her on Instagram and fell in love with her poetry there. This book did not disappoint. It is beautiful and well worth a read. Savor it!

AHHHHHHH! Joy Sullivan is a linguistic genius, and I'm obsessed. I am so thankful to Dial Press, Joy Sullivan, and Netgalley for granting me advanced digital access to this gorgeous collection of prose and poetry before it's scheduled to be published on April 9, 2024.

Sullivan pens narratives on how being homesick before she even finds her home, homesick for memories so simple and innocent and pure and wishing she knew better as a young girl. She writes about ways to cure a broken heart through every phase of each breakage and even provides instructions for healing one's soul at every decade of your life. I was transported throughout every page and wanted more and more as I read.

I am now a Joy Sullivan fan and can't wait to see what else she puts out.

This lovely poetry book is the book I'd been searching for. Beautiful poems about life and travel. Most of them evoked intense feelings and evoked beautiful images.

This collection was stunning. Thank you Netgalley for the advance read. I felt so many emotions while reading this. Sullivan captured nostalgia in a bottle, right back to my own childhood. Her words made me want to live and to cherish the soft moments. I found her imagery and language captivating and surprising. I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hands and devour it again and again.

This was a very emotional and captivating read. I really connected to several of the poems in the collection. Some of the stand out ones were "Duck","Luck 1","When My Friend is Low We Walk By The River", and "Even If." This is a collection I will be adding to my shelves as it's a collection I can really see myself coming back to over time. I highly recommend this as I feel there is something for everyone.

Joy Sullivan reflects on the fever dream that is girlhood, contends with her Christian upbringing, grapples with aging as a woman, and ends it all with hope. Nature in all her tragedy and splendor are celebrated, and the tone is consistently feminine and feminist.

Despite the obvious love poured into this work, I recognize that I may not have been the target audience and, therefore, was not moved in the way I am often affected by poetry. Maybe someday I will find a need to reckon with these same ideas and will return to be joyfully comforted.

Thank you, Joy Sullivan, for sharing your heart and hopes, and thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan.
I really enjoyed this poetry collection and it's message of self-discovery through all the journeys we take in life. I love finding a poet who is so deeply feeling to their surroundings, and so deeply moved by every path they experience, who can eloquently translate that to a page.
That is what Joy Sullivan has captured here.
I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House For the ARC!

I was silenced by the opening poem in Joy Sullivan’s "Instructions for Traveling West," and the remainder of the book kept me equally enraptured.

“Enraptured” is a ridiculous, excessive, embarrassing, genuine word, but it’s the kind of praise that this book invites.

There are many poetry collections about migration as a path to the self, often with the severity of an emergency evacuation, desperate to escape from something. What makes "Instructions for Traveling West" so unique is that it takes the road trip approach. These are poems that call the reader to rest in the pleasure of experience. They are marked by the sepia-toned, film-grained warmth of memory as Sullivan celebrates all the ragged edges of love.

There’s so much here about how our ordinary preoccupations gradually take on the symbolic weight of metaphor. The problem is not a “wrong nose,” but rather what it represents. A berry-stained shirt is more than a berry-stained shirt precisely because it is only a berry-stained shirt. Periodically, these metaphors tilt into the saccharine, but it doesn’t matter—they feel courageous in their desire to be earnest.

There’s some interesting theological heft here too, as Sullivan’s midwestern Christian background shapes many of these pieces. They are poems where the desire for God causes the speaker to leave God, not out of hedonism, but because earthly, sensorial pleasures resonate as closer to the divine than the casual cruelty of a youth pastor. The book’s interlude, “Westward, a Woman Walks” is one of the most startlingly effective uses of Biblical iconography I’ve seen in poetry, both honoring it and interrogating it to ultimately extend it. It’s rare to see an outgrown faith with nostalgia rather than bitterness, which makes Sullivan’s perspective feel uniquely grace-filled.

If there are any critiques to be made, I think some of the poems in “Give Grief Her Own Lullaby” feel a bit untethered from their predecessors and successors, perhaps a bit less focused. This may be intentional, though, as these pieces seem to shift from ambition to contentment in grief. The speaker seems more settled in herself, and her experience is characterized more by its breadth than before. Additionally, many of these poems are mid-pandemic reflections, and they don’t have the lucidity of hindsight.

Regardless, as the collection moves into its final section, “Remind Yourself, Joy is Not a Trick,” the euphoric thrum of the book reaches its full fruition, and by the closing lines of the final poem, I was in tears and amazed at how effectively Joy Sullivan invites readers into her journey westward.

I’m so excited to re-read this in the future and share it with others.

I really enjoyed this. I always love poetry and this was a great collection.
Sullivan makes mangos sound so delicious.
I also love the cover.

It’s been a while since I’ve read poetry, but I’ve always loved reading and writing it.
Joy writes with effortless passion, wit, depth, and understanding.
I enjoyed some sections of the book more then others, but as a whole this is a beautiful collection.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Beautiful. Flawless. 10 out of 10. No notes.

These words have made me smile and cry. Have made me feel unsure and so completely understood. I cannot wait to have the physical book in my hands, and to buy one for every woman I know.