I Hope This Finds You Well
By Kate Baer
4.5/5
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About this ebook
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Kind of Woman returns with a collection of erasure poems created from notes she received from followers, supporters and detractors—an artform that reclaims the vitriol from online trolls and inspires readers to transform what is ugly or painful in their own lives into something beautiful.
“I'm sure you could benefit from jumping on a treadmill”
“Women WANT a male leader . . . It’s honest to god the basic human playbook”
These are some of the thousands of messages that Kate Baer has received online. Like countless other writers—particularly women—with profiles on the internet, as Kate’s online presence grew, so did the darker messages crowding her inbox. These missives from strangers have ranged from “advice” and opinions to outright harassment.
At first, these messages resulted in an immediate delete and block. Until, on a whim, Kate decided to transform the cruelty into art, using it to create fresh and intriguing poems. These pieces, along with ones made from notes of gratitude and love, as well as from the words of public figures, have become some of her most beloved work.
I Hope This Finds You Well is drawn from those works: a book of poetry birthed in the darkness of the internet that offers light and hope. By cleverly building on the harsh negativity and hate women often receive—and combining it with heartwarming messages of support, gratitude, and connection, Kate Baer offers us a lesson in empowerment, showing how we too can turn bitterness into beauty.
Kate Baer
Kate Baer is the 2x New York Times bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman and I Hope This Finds You Well. Her work has also been published in The New Yorker, Literary Hub, Huffington Post and The New York Times.
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Reviews for I Hope This Finds You Well
35 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Powerful and illuminating. Erasure poetry has that charm to turn things upside down.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kate Baer slaps back at her internet trolls by finding some mic-drop responses hidden amongst the words of their own diatribes. This clever turn is called erasure poetry, though I seem to recall Mad magazine doing something similar in their pages with political statements and advertisements back when I was a kid.Baer also tries the same trick with positive comments -- drawing out affirmations -- and from other sources to lesser success. It has the most emotional impact for me when in direct response to her haters.Slim book, quick read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really enjoyed seeing how she took both good and bad words and altered them into something meaningful and powerful here. I’m still fascinated by the people in the world who reach out to strangers on the internet; it’s a psychology that I truly don’t understand.