Don't Blame Me For What You Made Me Do

by Willow Bowery

This is the era of the female rage.

Genres: Poetry

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2024

Reviews

[mae · Rating 2 out of 5]

1 1/2 ⭐️ rounded up

i don’t know if it’s the kindle or the book itself but the formatting of this was weird as hell, the text is different sizes / fonts and isn’t aligned properly. unprofessional and weird. makes me more inclined to believe it is ai generated. which is a shame because …

i liked the diary entries breaking up the poems and preferred some of the poems in this to the ones in tortured poets. i liked how the poems flowed into one another as part of the diary entry even if some of the ideas did contradict each other. regardless of ai, i am even less inclined to believe this truly is taylor because i think baring her soul in this way - even though it is clearly from the perspective of a character, it will still be informed by her experiences to a (less … eventful) degree - would be unsafe for her and not at all in her best interest. i say “baring her soul” because i do feel like (some of) the poems in this collection are far more interesting. sometimes, they have more unique and personal ways of expressing common feelings of love and loss than tortured poets did. which, to me, is the point of poetry. still don’t think it’s as groundbreaking as some of taylor’s songwriting is.

it’s pretty give or take on quality. some of them, if written by a real person, were clearly written in less than a minute - there’s some that are only two or three lines long. this (if written by a real person) almost always to serve as a Break in the storyline of the previous poem or diary entry. it’s just distracting though. if it was ai then it’s just a stupid computer moment. to me, the diary entries have more to say in their honest, conversational tone than the poems’ flowery (but flat) language.

can i imagine a universe in which taylor swift anonymously publishes poetry books? absolutely - i would be more surprised if she hasn’t been doing that for years already. do i also believe she would have incredibly minimal references to her work as a singer / songwriter? completely and utterly. do i believe her published work would be far more mature and just … better .. than this? 100%. the most interesting thing about these poems is that they may have been written by taylor swift.

some of the poems (“moth to a flame” being an example off the top of my head) seem like someone has entered the song lyric into chat gpt, asked it to create a poem based on the phrase, and then copy pasted it - with no context of what the lyric refers to in the song. in better than revenge, the boy is the moth but the speaker is not the flame, the speaker knows a different girl holds the matches. it’s literally the next line. i just feel like she’d be classier than that lol. also what’s a “disposable flame”? there’s some consecutive poems where certain lines are repeated, and i think that’s weird. if you wanted to write one long poem just … do that … you don’t need to break it up into small ones. otherwise, makes me think it’s ai.

there’s a piece called apple where it says “your adam’s apple / is rotten to the core / your core being your / body spirit and soul” alright 😭😭😭 pack it up

there’s two called “i for an eye” (no parts, just both called that) which just? confuses me? why are there two of them and why is it I for an Eye?

i think the worst one in this collection is better man

the storyline is poorly executed but i respect the idea and i think it really almost worked. too many of the poems in the middle are too shitty.

[Meghan Barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This felt like this was a confession and I’m scared 😂

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I just read someone confessing to a crime…

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like everyone else, I picked this up because I thought it might be Taylor Swift. But honestly? I ended up loving it—and at this point, I don’t even care if it’s her or just a fan. I’m not usually drawn to poetry, but the way this book weaves diary entries and poems together creates a really compelling narrative, especially with the twist and the sudden turn toward murder.

I told my friend about it, and she asked if the murder was literal or metaphorical… and honestly, I couldn’t say. I mean, obviously it’s fiction—but still. It blurs the line in a way that’s oddly captivating.

[Christina Vourcos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than I expected!

I read the first Willow Bowery book because I thought it was published by Taylor Swift. We still don’t know if it is or not. But that book was an interesting read. It made me curious to read this one. Especially since it had a Reputation vibe alongside The Tortured Poet Department: Female Rage vibe.

It was even better than I expected. It’s almost a novel-in-verse as the narrator journals her journey of losing her lover to his recent girlfriend and then finding out that it isn’t quite what it seems. There’s a mix of journal entries and poems in several parts as this journey plays out. It really provides a clear picture of the collection. There has been books published inspired by Taylor Swift, but these actually feel like they are, or even Taylor herself. I recommend reading ‘Tortured Poets’ and ‘Don’t Blame Me For What You Made Me Do.’

[Taylor O'Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read because I thought it was Taylor Swift, still convinced it might be but if it isn't I don't normally read poetry because it takes too much thought lol but this was very well written and very pretty if that makes sense. Like the words and the vibe were just pretty. I base how much I enjoy something by deciding if after I have read it if I will go ahead and purchase the hard copy to add to the library and I will for this one.

[Saf · Rating 2 out of 5]

The repetition of imagery devices (storm, thorns, soft breezes, flames) belies the anxiety and deterioration in reality that the poet feels. Lots of Swift-isms and references to her song catalogue but the vocabulary is simple and unedited so I have my doubts regarding the pen name. The love triangle was disproportionately dramatic as was the murder…. Some lines were relevant to how I felt about in the separation and moving on from🤖.

[Gabi Cozzolino · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s an okay fanfaction, really

Don’t read this thinking you’re reading something Taylor Swift wrote. You’re not. It’s good fan faction, kind of. It wasn’t for me bc I don’t love poetry but it was okay

[matthew peavy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not Taylor. People should stop riding her coattails and making others think that there’s that possibility. It does not quite have her eloquence. If you can get past that, it’s a decent read and goes by quite quick. I will check the other work just to see. This novel is of a high school love triangle basically and the fallout from it.

[kristyn ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ · Rating 4 out of 5]

my god this was well written

[Lauren Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read, very repetitive narrative in the poetry.

[Ave · Rating 2 out of 5]

poetry

[Kirsten Wiley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Anyone who actually thinks this is written by Taylor Swift is insane. Is it blatantly inspired by her. Yes. Is it good. No.