A Bit Much | Review
What Emily's Reading: a millennial-coded book of poetry
⭐⭐
A Bit Much by Lindsay Rush
304 pages | Published by Griffin
The Set Up: A Bit Much is a debut poetry collection from Lyndsay Rush, who gained a following online as @maryoliversdrunkcousin. The collection is “a humorous and joyful celebration of big feelings, tender truths, and hard-won wisdom.”
“relax into the truth that there are no monsters in the closet / that fun is never a waste of time / and maybe - just maybe - a life of joy will be your greatest achievement.”
I picked this book up after hearing a couple hosts of Currently Reading talk about it, and one thing I’m trying to do more of this year is read more poetry collections. This one, unfortunately, didn’t land with me.
The collection as a whole is very light in tone, and there is plenty of humor. There are several lines that caught my eye and really resonated with me, but those lines almost felt out of place within these poems that seemed to be trying *really* hard to be funny.
I understand the irony to say that these pieces all felt “a bit much” - but to me, they did. Like the author was really forcing the witticisms out. The collection felt reminiscent of the 2010’s millennial girl-boss era, and even as a millennial I didn’t connect with it.
I loved the topics Lyndsay Rush writes about - finding joy, the patriarchy, aging, etc. - and I’m sure that her work really speaks to a lot of people, but I’m sad to say her humor and style didn’t work for me.
