You can see the growth Ms. Leav has made as a writer in this collection of poems. This is definitely my favorite collection of hers that I've read so far. ( )

Actual rating: 2.5/5
"When did you stop caring? he asked
When did you start noticing? she replied."

A combination of Leav's usual material and what appear to be tweets put to paper. It's not her best collection, though there are some gems. ( )

Free Netgalley ARC for an honest review.


I fell into this book when I was supposed to be falling asleep, and it swallowed my whole from the first flip of its first page. Lang Leave continues to know the language of love, longing, lust, and loss in more poignancy than most people will ever learn how to laugh, love and live. Everyone should read this book (and all the rest of them as well).

I will be here, holding my heart in my hands, waiting for you to find my in these ink-stained lands. ( )

The Universe of Us by Lang Lev is the poet's fourth collection of poetry. Lang is a recipient of The Qantas Spirit of Youth Award and was later granted a coveted Churchill Fellowship. Her fashion label Akina has achieved critical and commercial success, stocked in key boutiques around Australia and later in cutting edge Harajuku, Japan.

I would have passed this collection by, but her mention in her partner's, Michael Faudet, book Pretty Dirty Things intrigued me. If Leav was the influence to Faudet's writing, it must be worthwhile to read. Leav manages to treat love without becoming sappy about it. Her poems, for the most part, are very short almost like song lyric clippings. It is easy to see how her work can become best-selling poetry. Not to slight her work, but it does seem to hold that bubblegum pop quality of catching a moment and exploiting it.

Although as a middle aged male, I am probably not the target audience for Leav's writing. I can appreciate the subject matter and did enjoy the cosmological references. It was the odd poem out that attracted my attention. "A Lesson" seemed to be more about the loss of a person, as in suicide rather than a loss of a love. I can see how this collection appeals to a large and not normally poetry reading audience. Although this collection is not my preferred poetry, anything that encourages people to read more poetry is a very good thing. ( )

I tried but it seems that no matter how much I try, I can't seem to connect to almost 90% of the content of this collection. ( )