Over the last few years, Orion Carloto has accumulated quite the following on social media. Her internet presence began when she created a YouTube channel during her teenage years; it's filled with videos of her travels, short films based off of her own writing, and advice videos. She's now twenty one and on October 24 of this year she released her first book entitled Flux
. Its content of poetry and prose was "written from the many states of grief over a broken heart." The 181 paged book contains illustrations, in black and white, by Katie Roberts. One month prior to the released date, Orion also released a trailer on her channel for the book which offered a preview to the subject matter.
I stumbled across Orion's YouTube channel three years ago and was immediately captivated by her work. Her video interpretations of her writings blew me away; the emotions behind her words were unlike anything I had ever witnessed. Her travel videos also were so aesthetically pleasing that I've watched them more times than I'd like to admit.
I purchased Flux
purchased the week it was released. I was visiting my girlfriend in Austin, Texas and we had to visit three different book stores before we were able to find a copy; most Barnes and Noble stores were sold out. I've only read through it once and am currently rereading it in order to jot down the page numbers of my favorite pieces. I was moved by the entire book but some parts of the book hit me harder than others. While reading through it the first time, I could feel her pain (at one point I had that sinking stomach feeling) and I think that's the most powerful thing about Orion: she has an unique way with words that allows the reader to feel/relate to her emotions.
Many of her followers post images of Flux
to their social media accounts and Orion has said that she loves looking through her tagged images to see people enjoying Flux. For years everyone wondered when we would get a book from her; we knew it was bound to happen one day but we didn't realize how fast it would come. The excitement for Orion's highly anticipated book has yet to die down and I don't think it will. She bares her soul and pain for the world to read and gives her viewers something to look to in their time of heartbreak.
