Internet-personality, Orion Carloto, has been in the limelight for about 5 years now as a role-model and influence to most. After gaining a following on social media platforms, Carloto began writing for the publication "Local Wolves" which is where her writing career took off. Having her own column, the young content creator wrote about personal-development, heartbreak, and trying to find her place in this demanding world. Young adults everywhere flocked to her words to find comfort and solitude. She began to speak to the masses who were no longer just an audience to her, but her friends.
Many awaited for the publication of her book, "Flux," for years as she dropped hints and teases of poetry on her Twitter and Instagram since 2013. This is the conversation that started it all:
People expected the book to come since that day and yesterday, October 24, 2017, it was available nationwide. I, as a fan of her work, was incredibly excited to get my hands on a copy and I read it addictively - by the end of the day, I was finished and am eager to be read it again for further inspection.
My initial thoughts were "Wow, she really did it," and "I really didn't expect much less." Orion Carloto wrote from the soul and with her heart on her sleeve, sharing even the deepest secrets from her past in a vulnerable way. If you have been following her for a while, you can generally identify who she is writing about but at the end of the day, you can really just relate to what she writes about.
Some of the poetry is short and to the point; one-liners mark the book every couple pages or so but in a powerful manner. She hits you where it hurts - so even though it is a quick read, you are left thinking about not only what it meant to her, but what it means to you.
The only downside to this book is that I wanted more - this could come in the form of a larger book or just double-sided pages, but I felt like I was just expecting to see a lot more. Maybe this means there will be another book? I'll be crossing my fingers for this possibility.
Something I have to commend is the artwork as it added special element to "Flux" - it was intimate and alluring, seemingly done in charcoal. Often showing lovers or a single person, the art reflected love and heartbreak.
Something that I felt was a missed opportunity was that she didn't divide the book in any way - if you look at other popular poets, Rupi Kaur or Madisen Kuhn, they created sections for their poetry. Now you may be wondering, "But how would Orion do this?" Well, because she is a bi-sexual female, she could have split the novel in "Him" and then "Her" just so we can see the two sides of her love life. Now I understand this could cause controversy because love shouldn't be divided but should be left as a whole. For the sake of relating to specific loves, however, this could have been an awesome possibility.
Overall, it was a stellar book with some great poetry. As a young woman famous on social media, she had a lot of pressure riding on this assignment - people expected her work to be great and to me, it was. I have a feeling there will be more criticism on it from other reviews, but that will come from a more comparative light. If you look at the book alone, without knowing who she was or by looking at other poetry novels, it was a good collection. It was honest, poetic (as silly as it sounds, not all poetry has to sound like poetry), and beautiful; she is a wonderful writer but is clearly still learning.
I rate this poetry book a 8/10 as it was great, but I still wanted more from it. I have no doubt that if she writes a second one that it will be even better because publishing is a learning experience.
Go out and get your own copy today at a bookstore near you or online at her publisher's website: http://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/books/detail?s....
