BOOK REVIEW
“I’m drowning in these words I write.”
Confessions of a Lovesick Teenager, is the debut poetry collection from Ivana Ruzic with concepts of love, loss, and being a teenager.
The book is less than 100-page read, but full of emotions through Ruzic’s expressful writing with thought-provoking poetry that will resonate with many from being a teenager trying to navigate through challenges. It’s an intriguing read that in a few words she can bring the reader on a rollercoaster of emotions.
Embedded with emotional honesty and fierce writing that overall is poetically wonderful, the simplistic poetry with an engaging tone makes this an exceptional read. Discussing a first love and a first heartbreak, Ruzic opened up about her heart and mind’s thoughts, belief’s, and feelings on her journey through despair and heartbreak.
There’s comfort to her words even when it’s based around anger, fear, and sadness. The poetry conveys her darkest things she’s unable to voice. There’s depth to each piece with emotional wisdom and maturity as she wrote her feelings out, rather than talking.
Ruzic writing shows intelligence beyond her years as she wonderfully displays raw emotions of happiness and sadness with elegance. Discussing thoughts that keep her up all hours and that won’t escape her head feeling not good enough, the overwhelming tales of a love affair that’s one-sided will resonate with many. Then as she begins to question herself and her life before this particular relationship, thinking she knows what she wants and needs and it’s them, she writes, “you’re the reason I live and breathe,” being a suffocating pen but universally relatable.
As the journey continues showing depth of the emptiness she loats feeling desolated, she shouts filling the void she leaves hoping she will be silenced for that bit longer. Her messy heart is similar to her poetry which will make sense to the reader’s in similar situations to unravel the metaphors, the understandable mess, and feel less alone in an experience that feels isolating.
There’s a lot to uncover in the book but the main point of being infatuated with someone is a heart wrenching and gut punching read when having been there before. “When you left so many parts of me died and I’ve grown them back, but my heart’s thumping in your hand,” is a beautiful intrupationtation of the entire book, then realising she may have felt for the both of them.
From not taking rejection well and the people around her not knowing how to help, while touching on topics of mental health being triggered into depression while trying to find a reason then coming up with the conclusion, she writes, “I was killing myself for you, a sacrifice, to the torments of your love.” It’s a captivating and gripping book with many hooking poems. There’s plenty of parts throughout Confessions of a Lovesick Teenager, that is a soul destroying read, but penned by Ivana Ruzic so beautifully, making this a great debut book of poetry.
Words by Danielle Holian
INTERVIEW
Tell us a bit about your writing background.
I never really came from a family of writers, so I’m not too sure where my love for it came. I’ve always had a large imagination and a love for words. When I was younger I entered competitions such as the Rotary Writing competition. There weren’t many outlets for me to express my poetry though, and I found it difficult to actually get into it until secondary school. It was always a way for me to express my feelings without having to actually tell anyone.
What, or who, inspired you to start writing?
The first poem I wrote was when I was seven, and it was about a crush I had in third class. After that I didn’t write again until I was thirteen. Most of what I wrote was about love. Despite not having felt it, it’s what I always craved no matter what, because of the stories I read, and the movies I watched. I wanted to be in love so bad and I wrote as if I was.
And what influenced your book Confessions of a LoveSick Teenager?
I started writing my book when I was fifteen, after I had experienced what I believed to be my first real heartbreak. It was all of the things and all of the feelings I had that I couldn’t tell her because we were no longer talking, and it was cathartic in a way but also sad because I was going to keep the poems to myself.
How has your life in general influenced your work in general?
My poetry is directly connected to what goes on in my life, regardless of if it’s heartbreak, my dog dying, or me being in love. Usually, anything I have written has already happened to me in some way, shape, or form.
And how do you find the balance between writing about your own personal experiences and exploring topics that may not be autobiographical, but still speak to many people?
While my work is deeply personal, I feel as though I write in a way that makes the feelings universal. Everyone has experienced sadness, everyone has been in love whether it’s romantic or platonic – writing about your feelings is universal because everyone has feelings.
And finally, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?
My main piece of advice is to keep writing, honestly. I read back on my old stuff and I think it’s awful but if I didn’t keep writing I wouldn’t be at the level I am today. It took me time and effort to actually find my voice and the voice I wanted to project into the world.
Grab your copy of Confessions of a Lovesick Teenager, here.