Rupture

by Susan Varga

Help me, words - you always have. Susan Varga is an award-winning writer. This is her first foray into poetry. Rupture conveys the experience of recovering from a stroke, which is "one of Australia's biggest killers and a leading cause of disability" according to The Stroke Foundation. "The directness and simplicity of these poems, beautifully arranged as stages in a recovery, carry the urgency, honesty and celebration of a life reclaimed."--Joan London "The poems that comprise Rupture are lucid, deft, unapologetic, forthright. There are images and lines that are literally breathtaking, stanzas that punch with wisdom, and whole poems that linger long after the book is finished." --Andrea Goldsmith [Subject: Poetry]

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, eight months after receiving Susan Varga’s poetry collection, Rupture, I’ve finished it. The delay had nothing to do with the quality of the book, but just with my ineffectiveness at keeping up with review books. I apologise to Susan Varga and all the other authors and publishers whose books I still have to get to!

Now, I have reviewed Susan Varga’s excellent award-winning memoir Heddy and me, and Varga, until recently, saw herself primarily as a prose writer. However, circumstances – indeed, those which drive this collection – led her to try her hand at poetry. These circumstances were her suffering a significant stroke, a “rupture” in her life, in other words. For my full review, please check my blog https://whisperinggums.com/2017/08/13...

[Jamie (treesofreverie) McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. I feel like I would have gotten more out of this book if I was older but Susan offers a brutal insight into her journey and I'd like to pick this book up again in the future for a reread.
*Actual Rating: 3.5

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rupture by Susan. Varga's Rupture is a collection of thought provoking and satisfying poems in 6 parts. Susan Varga suffered a severe stroke in 2013, and these poems reflect on her struggle to write and to gain her confidence with a new self identity. "where are my words" she asks. She also contemplates on love of her partner and dogs, and nature, and other like stroke victims. Beautifully and directly written. Each word speaks individually to illuminate the gaps. A must read.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rupture is Susan Varga's first collection of poetry, detailing her experience after having suffered a stroke, and the way her life has reformed as a result. The poems are deftly written, with both aching and empowering tones. I went to hear Susan speak about the collection, which was characterised as a form of salvation - words were all she had, and in Rupture, she claims them back as her own.

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Excellent poems include: The Ward Quartet (srsly chilling), Rupture, Moving, The Library, Enemy, Stranger, Here/There, Haiku (part 1), Refuge.