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Death & Darker Realms
A collection of 40 poems dealing with themes like death, depression and dysfunctional relationships.
65 pages, ebook
First published December 4, 2019
About the author
Sneha Jaiswal
7 books28 followersAlmost always found writing, reading, venting, or diving into the latest movies, graphic novels, and the occasional anime.
Author of 'Bad Town Kids'; 'Love, Loss, Lockdown'; 'Little Notes of Anguish' & 'Death and Darker Realms'.
https://www.instagram.com/writer_jais...
https://twitter.com/Writer_Jaiswal
Author of 'Bad Town Kids'; 'Love, Loss, Lockdown'; 'Little Notes of Anguish' & 'Death and Darker Realms'.
https://www.instagram.com/writer_jais...
https://twitter.com/Writer_Jaiswal
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 6, 2020
OVERVIEW:
Poems are not my thing. Although I do enjoy an occasional verse or two recited by someone in the middle of a good story, like maybe Dahl's crazy compositions in the Chocolate Factory books, you'll not find a single collection of poetry among the 250-odd books on my shelves. So why this?
Well, I remember the author, Sneha, sending me one of her old poems to read one fine day, looking for some feedback. I recall loving the underlying premise of the work, and her telling me she was trying to compile a list of all the poems she's ever written over the years into a single book. And before I knew it, she had her debut title out for sale. So we decided it'd be great for me to try it out and write an honest, no-words-minced review.
What's the takeaway here? It's that this isn't a collection of poems written for a book. It's a collection of poems written just for the sake of it, as an outlet, and tucked away in a corner for a long time before the decision to publish it was made. That's very different from writing something with the intent to commercialize it from the very beginning. How well does that work out for her? Time to find out.
THE UPS AND THE DOWNS:
Now the thing that I noticed right off the bat, after the first couple of pages, is that the poet takes quite a bit of liberty in terms of arranging the words to make the poems rhyme. The classic 'forced rhyme' trick, so to say. While many avid readers might look down upon the usage of forced rhyme, I personally think it is a nifty little tool to showcase just how creative you can be, as long as you know what you're doing. Take this, for example:
Melting in soiled sheets / Odours of the sick most foul / Of skin that still seethes / Like disease on prowl.
In all the instances of forced rhyme I came across in the book, almost all of them had been seamlessly blended into the verse. They didn't stick out as odd. There were some that went a little too far into abstract territory, but those examples are few and far.
The other obvious thing is the rawness. Like I said earlier, these poems were initially written without the intent to publish. They don't even seem to have been changed much, because there are still raw and impactful, like a coarse piece of paper that can give you a papercut rather than one with smoothed edges. While I was going through them, some, like the one with the old tree or the one about the lamppost, I could clearly imagine the dreariness of those places and objects in my head. Almost as if they were translated directly from an odd dream or two. Now I know why the title says 'Death & Darker Realms'.
Speaking of which, the book may be themed around darkness, but there's a lot more to look out for than just dark and gloom and turmoil. There are quite a few pieces that speak of the light at the end of the tunnel, of rising from ashes. Finding meaning in something, realizing your own worth, letting go, breaking stereotypes, a whole bunch of them. If there's misery, there's also redemption. I'd say the first poem itself is a good example. It speaks of a woman bogged down by the weight of expectations and constantly having to sacrifice her own wishes to suit everyone's standards. She ends up taking her life after penning down a letter to her parents. While this might seem like a tragic end, she made sure the last act of her life was an act of defiance, something she wanted to do rather than what people wanted her to do. I won't spoil the others for you, but some of these poems have a deeper, hidden meaning that may not be very obvious at first.
Some poems are light and fast-paced, almost like having a conversation with someone, while others are a little heavy and cryptic, so don't expect to cheese through the book if you're the kind who looks for meaning rather than wordplay. Would be easier if you think of this as an anthology, so you can expect different writing styles.
There are only three little problems here, things I'd have liked to see done differently. The first is the layout. The other two are also the layout. Some poems have a larger line spacing than the others, and although this is purely an aesthetic issue, I think this book deserves a much better quality of typesetting than it has right now.
HOW TO READ:
If you have trouble understanding a poem, mark it and move on to another one. Revisit it later when you're nicely warmed up on the overall literary style.
DIFFICULTY:
Novice / Intermediate
RATING & VERDICT:
8/10. This needs a paperback. SIGN MY PETITION NOW!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the shorter review, check out instagram.com/whomovedmybookmark.
Also available on my blog at www.theflittingbookmark.com.
Poems are not my thing. Although I do enjoy an occasional verse or two recited by someone in the middle of a good story, like maybe Dahl's crazy compositions in the Chocolate Factory books, you'll not find a single collection of poetry among the 250-odd books on my shelves. So why this?
Well, I remember the author, Sneha, sending me one of her old poems to read one fine day, looking for some feedback. I recall loving the underlying premise of the work, and her telling me she was trying to compile a list of all the poems she's ever written over the years into a single book. And before I knew it, she had her debut title out for sale. So we decided it'd be great for me to try it out and write an honest, no-words-minced review.
What's the takeaway here? It's that this isn't a collection of poems written for a book. It's a collection of poems written just for the sake of it, as an outlet, and tucked away in a corner for a long time before the decision to publish it was made. That's very different from writing something with the intent to commercialize it from the very beginning. How well does that work out for her? Time to find out.
THE UPS AND THE DOWNS:
Now the thing that I noticed right off the bat, after the first couple of pages, is that the poet takes quite a bit of liberty in terms of arranging the words to make the poems rhyme. The classic 'forced rhyme' trick, so to say. While many avid readers might look down upon the usage of forced rhyme, I personally think it is a nifty little tool to showcase just how creative you can be, as long as you know what you're doing. Take this, for example:
Melting in soiled sheets / Odours of the sick most foul / Of skin that still seethes / Like disease on prowl.
In all the instances of forced rhyme I came across in the book, almost all of them had been seamlessly blended into the verse. They didn't stick out as odd. There were some that went a little too far into abstract territory, but those examples are few and far.
The other obvious thing is the rawness. Like I said earlier, these poems were initially written without the intent to publish. They don't even seem to have been changed much, because there are still raw and impactful, like a coarse piece of paper that can give you a papercut rather than one with smoothed edges. While I was going through them, some, like the one with the old tree or the one about the lamppost, I could clearly imagine the dreariness of those places and objects in my head. Almost as if they were translated directly from an odd dream or two. Now I know why the title says 'Death & Darker Realms'.
Speaking of which, the book may be themed around darkness, but there's a lot more to look out for than just dark and gloom and turmoil. There are quite a few pieces that speak of the light at the end of the tunnel, of rising from ashes. Finding meaning in something, realizing your own worth, letting go, breaking stereotypes, a whole bunch of them. If there's misery, there's also redemption. I'd say the first poem itself is a good example. It speaks of a woman bogged down by the weight of expectations and constantly having to sacrifice her own wishes to suit everyone's standards. She ends up taking her life after penning down a letter to her parents. While this might seem like a tragic end, she made sure the last act of her life was an act of defiance, something she wanted to do rather than what people wanted her to do. I won't spoil the others for you, but some of these poems have a deeper, hidden meaning that may not be very obvious at first.
Some poems are light and fast-paced, almost like having a conversation with someone, while others are a little heavy and cryptic, so don't expect to cheese through the book if you're the kind who looks for meaning rather than wordplay. Would be easier if you think of this as an anthology, so you can expect different writing styles.
There are only three little problems here, things I'd have liked to see done differently. The first is the layout. The other two are also the layout. Some poems have a larger line spacing than the others, and although this is purely an aesthetic issue, I think this book deserves a much better quality of typesetting than it has right now.
HOW TO READ:
If you have trouble understanding a poem, mark it and move on to another one. Revisit it later when you're nicely warmed up on the overall literary style.
DIFFICULTY:
Novice / Intermediate
RATING & VERDICT:
8/10. This needs a paperback. SIGN MY PETITION NOW!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the shorter review, check out instagram.com/whomovedmybookmark.
Also available on my blog at www.theflittingbookmark.com.
July 11, 2020
Of deaths - requitted and unrequited
Poetry and Fiction is a great combo - if you get it right. This one does, at places. The poems about a king/queen/lover, wedding molestation, heart attack induced death land really nicely. Not all do though - the crispness comes at the cost of drama and emotion. It's a different book - worth a read ;-)
Poetry and Fiction is a great combo - if you get it right. This one does, at places. The poems about a king/queen/lover, wedding molestation, heart attack induced death land really nicely. Not all do though - the crispness comes at the cost of drama and emotion. It's a different book - worth a read ;-)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews