As a Swiftie with an English degree, I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. My problem with this seems to be one that others share-- what is their audience? This felt like an introductory English course, with all its capitalized vocabulary words, and the glossary. And yet it was crafted for those who are more advanced than that.

The format was weird, too. To be fair, the book was visually beautiful-- I loved loved loved the pops of color, and little poet bios throughout. Also, the playlists and book recs based on era were fabulous (although I still think "Just Kids" by Patti Smith should have officially been mentioned as part of the Tortured Poets set). ANYWAY, it seemed exhausting to list the songs one by one and explain them. I would have been more interested and engaged had the book been organized in a different way, with chapters mentioning these songs throughout-- perhaps similar to the way the playlists were formed. It would be an interesting way to highlight all those MOTIFS, if I may capitalize vocab as the authors do, hahaha.

In all seriousness, I appreciate these authors' efforts. I was so excited about this book. I received 2 copies for Christmas, and placed one of them on the "free" shelf at the library at the high school where I work. It was gone in an hour. I hope this book speaks to someone more than it spoke to me, and I am sure that reader is out there. But man. I have been a Swiftie since 2006 and literature is my passion. I'm sad it didn't speak to me.