As someone that doesn't typically seek out the poetry genre, "oh, you thought this was a date?!" utterly captivated me. The biting prose and intense topics being discussed felt immensely personal, which is not something I typically feel when reading poems. My favorite section was 'you knew there had to be a reckoning'. After reading this, I would love to seek out more poetry with a similar feeling. Thank you so much to NetGalley and C. Russell Price for the ARC, and apologies for this late review of your work!

I was very excited for this poetry collection: the title had me very intrigued. However, I was disappointed by the content and the explicit language.

Poignant and lyrical, I highly recommend you read and reflect. These poems are raw and hard to read at times, but as a queer reader, I'm so happy this exists.

3.5+ stars

This collection is intense, vivid, deeply personal, and explores a lot in the realms of trauma, recovery, and relationships. It wasn’t what I was expecting or really hoping for, but it was powerful and even wonderful in its own way. It wasn’t really my style of poetry, but as with other similar collections, it feels difficult and wrong to rate it too harshly or too much based on personal preferences. It was a lot, but I think that was intentional. Reading it was definitely an experience.

oh, you thought this was a date?! by C. Russell Price is a really interesting collection of poetry. I really enjoyed how it was set out and the flow of the book itself, being split into different section surrounding a word that is defined for you along with a song etc. It was really well fleshed out for a poetry collection. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy a lot of the poetry as it was a bit too surface level for me. I think if you enjoy modern poetry, you should definitely give this one a try.

Their first full-length collection, Price’s candid and unflinching lyricism seeks to mark you; deeply and indelibly. These poems are not made of comforting purple prose, but rather provide an unclouded mirror reflecting a veracity that is unmistakingly Americana. Exploring queer sexuality and gender identidy, C. Russell Price writes of their resilience and grief as well as of fury and pain.

Trigger/Content Warnings: rape/sexual assault, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, homophobic language, and gun violence

This was unexpectidly a wonderful read. The themes explored in this poetry collection of C. Russell Price are not necessarily my topics, or topics that apply to me personally, but I really enjoyed them.

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book. "oh, you though this was a date?!" is a deep, heavy and perfectly imperfect poetry collection. It is chaotic and unforgivable in the way it projects the emotion implemented in the poem onto the reader. The writing style is raw, very strong and bold, but also it kinda feels like the author is giving you a slight smirk? It is very authentic and it conveys a lot of power in the way the poems reach for your very soul. There are quite a lot of trigger warnings such as sexual abuse, drug and alcohol use and abuse, homophobia, transphobia, depression, isolation, violence, death, self harm, suicidal thoughts, deadnaming, grief, toxic relationship, etc.
Once again, I am incredibly thankful for being given the opportunity to read this truly extraordinary and vivid poetry collection.

It is so hard to rate poetry because it is such a personal form of expression.
It feels weird to give a rating to another persons inner most thoughts and feelings.
It feels even worse to give it a lower rating.

This just wasn’t for me.
I found it very abstract and hard to follow.
Someone else could definitely read this and have the poems resonate, but unfortunately it was a miss for me.

Just amazingly, deeply heavy in the way you want your poetry to be. Perfectly weird, and so not for everyone, but a deep poetry lover will find themselves within the lines of these lyrical poems

Thanks to Netgalley and Northwestern University Press for the ARC of this!

I’m not really a poetry reader, but the cover and description of this just called to me! I really liked that the author referenced so many songs throughout the poems and then identified them in the back, I’d caught a few but definitely not all of them. Overall, it didn’t really click for me as a reader but I can see other people liking it. It was weird (as expected), and pretty heavy, so go in carefully if you might be triggered.

2/5 I am not sure poetry is really for me! The description was really interesting and the imagery is so vivid! It’s just the style makes it super hard for me to keep up! But definitely really deep and vivid!



Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

Price's writing reminds me of CA Conrad, and other queer poets unafraid of being unabashedly and shamelessly messy. They write through the lens of the apocalypse about sex work, desire, trauma, and Appalachian identity in a way that I found really incredible. Not a book that I would recommend to every reader, but a really worthwhile read. This is working-class queer poetry at its finest.

Thank you to NetGalley, C. Russell Price and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A beautiful and inspiring collection of poetry. I loved how the author highlighted the good and bad about being in the LGBT community and articulated this into beautiful poetry.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Be warned; this book does feature from extremely dark / triggering subject matter.
But man, these poems were RAW and unapologetic. They were powerful and touching...

i feel for the author. <3

This was a lot. This book doesn’t have a content warning, but if it did it would be the length of the book, starting off with csa and child abuse. The poems are heavy and deep and there’s no hand holding here.

There’s a part in the poem Ars Poetica: We Can Take Our Turn, Singing Them Dirty Rap Songs that references Frank O’Hara about how poetry should be about what you can’t casually tell someone over a phone call; the poet should go all out, talk about the triggers, have meaning and weight behind what they say. Poets should focus on injustice and not being complacent fluff. The poem is a manifesto describing this book and oh, you thought this was a date?! succeeds at that goal. The book will push the reader and make them confront so much abuse and other atrocities. I went in thinking I could read this in a sitting or two, but I wound up spreading it out over a number of nights to let it sit (and also to process).

Some poems were impenetrable to me because it required context or knowledge that I don’t have, which I really respected because it was clear this was being written by a very specific perspective for others in similar situations. I may not have understood every poem, but I still felt at least some of the weight in every poem and that even if I didn’t get some, someone else would and it would mean the world to them. This is a book I would recommend for readers looking for queer anti-capitalist writing with a pro-sex worker focus, especially if they are in a place to read about csa, child abuse, suicide, and confronting the darkest parts of biological family.

Oh, You Thought This Was A Date?! by C. Russell Price is such a cool book! I recommend listening to the music selections listed throughout the book as it really sets the mood for the material. The poems are raw and evocative with a depth that is both beautiful and destructive. This book is really intense but satisfying, like a long drink of bourbon.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

i throughly enjoyed this poetry collection- it was interesting and kept me engaged throughout the entire book!

A special thank you to Northwestern University Press, TriQuarterly and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Oh, You Thought this was a Date? in digital ARC format

I am a sucker for different types of poetry and then mix it with this cover and title - I couldn't wait to dig in! This is a collection of poems with many trigger warnings: abuse (drug and alcohol, sexual assault, homo and transphobia, foul language, death and violence

I did not love ALL of the poems but felt connected to quite a few. I did feel like it lacked cohesiveness with a LOT of topics so a bit disorganized. Plus I've never read poems with so many references? It was a fun and quick read, good for those who love poetry but not for a first time poetry reader

Raw and unapologetic, C. Russell Price's poetry tackles sexuality, sexual assault and queerness with such honesty and even humour that is hard to be indifferent. But, unfortunately, most of the pop-culture references went over my head, and I found it hard to connect: that’s not the author’s fault, but my own. Although the book was not for me, there is definitely an audience that will enjoy and connect with it. And I have to say, I really liked the layout and the physical edition will certainly be an art piece.