The Anguish of an Oyster

by Ecem Yücel

Comprising forty-six poems that explore the themes of love, life, loss, melancholy, and nostalgia, Yucel's debut poetry collection "The Anguish of an Oyster" beautifully captures the longing human soul and touches the hearts of her readers.

Genres: Poetry

122 pages, Paperback

Published October 26, 2020

About the author

Ecem Yücel is an Ottawa-based Turkish-Canadian writer, poet, interpreter, and translator. She worked as a book translator, magazine translator, transcriptionist, and editor for various Turkish publishing houses and magazines of music, travel, and education in Turkey. She holds an MA in World Literatures and Cultures from the University of Ottawa, and currently works as a cultural interpreter. Her writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Salamander Magazine, The Evergreen Review, HAD, The Hooghly Review, Stanchion Zine, Maudlin House, The Ghost Parachute, Overheard Literary Magazine, Gone Lawn, JAKE, Eunoia Review, Idle Ink, Kissing Dynamite Poetry Journal, The Daily Drunk Magazine, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Celestite Poetry, Selcouth Station, Autofocus Literary Magazine, Cypress Poetry Journal, Ayaskala Magazine, Wine Cellar Press, Alien Buddha Press, Near Window Zine, Final Girl Bulletin Board, and Boats Against the Current Magazine. Her poetry book The Anguish of an Oyster is available on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you review poetry? It is such a personal medium. When I read poetry, I look for emotion. The beauty of the language. How it affects me. Does it inspire me? Make me think? Make me smile? Make me sad? Make me wonder? Ecem’s poetry does all that in her own unique, candid voice.

There are moments of tenderness, love, nostalgia, introspection, pain, and humor. Yet a predominant theme of longing is weaved throughout the book. Longing for love, longing for freedom, longing for lost love or love fading away, longing to escape, longing for purpose, longing for a better life, longing for another person, longing for human connection.

The Anguish of an Oyster is perhaps the anguish of longing unfulfilled. And the results are a pearl of a book.

[Argelia Peña Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ecem Yücel has an accurate way to manifest thoughts, feelings, and events through her poems. I love her writing style: honest, poignant, and reflective.

[Onur Yücel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and nostalgic poems. A must-read.

[Geneviève · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Whenever I sip the black of the night,
I drink to you."
("The Anguish of an Oyster")

The night, sometimes soothing and sometimes achingly lonely, is one the main motifs in Yücel's book. I like to imagine that these poems were written in the dead of the night, when memories become vivid, and what ifs keep you awake.

Along with the author, I have wondered what it would feel like to be the rain, to be the sea, or even just a leaf or a pebble "wishing / to be thrown / to be dropped / to fall into darkness" ("Pebble").

Yücel's poems never shy away from the pain of heartbreak, of betrayal, of bitter memories, of nostalgia. I have been deeply touched by them, and the writing here is so evocative that more than once I have found myself pausing to think, "I felt that."

[Juan Cristóbal Castro Alonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must-read book includes verses that let you travel to worlds of beauty, warmth, and sadness. Love and despair are portraited as feelings of hurt and uplift. There is a yearning for the author to find the true love that will love back, in a sad journey that tries and tries. The voyage is painted with inspiring metaphors and crafted use of language. The reader will feel the author's pain and sense of being while immersing into a beautiful and melancholic state, of diverse colors, shapes, and places. Recommended reading to connect with the universal human desire of finding real love.

[m · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of daydreams, longings, memories, desires, fears, wounds and the traces they leave after healing, and the many things we call “love”. The poet takes us to a world tour of intimate moments, remembered or imagined which leaves the reader feeling like we have been sitting in the corner of her room while she was watching the stars through the window.

[Diamaya Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvellous collection by a very promising writer. Raw, uncultivated talent, putting emotions into words to make her own unique poetry. Looking forward to what comes next.

[Osman Yucel · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who love poetry, reading real poetry offers an endless taste. This is exactly what Anguish of the Oyster provides, revealing the inner world of the human being impressively.

[Matt Tomic · Rating 5 out of 5]

An apt title for a stirring poetic collection about the melancholic search to find and nurture love in a vast and endless sea. Well worth reading.

[Ecrim Yavuz · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟🌟 | 4 - 5
Başlarda üç puan veririm diye düşünüyordum ama ilerledikçe sevdiğim şiirleri keşfettim ve böylelikle genel puanım 4 oldu.

Ecem Yücel uzun yıllardır şiir yazıyormuş. Bence bu kalemine de yansımış. Normalde İngilizce olarak okuduğum ve yorumladığım şiir kitaplarına hep “sevmiyorum neden okuyorum bilmiyorum” gibi yorumlar kondurdum. Fakat bu şiir kitabı bence daha farklıydı. (İnanın Ecem Hanım bana kitabı gönderdiği ve de bir Türk yazar olduğu için onu kayırmıyorum aksine diğer İngilizce şiir kitapları arasında bu kitabı beğendiğim için kayırıyorum.) Kitapta 55 adet şiir bulunuyor ve bu şiirler öyle ay my heart ackes işte you have power gibi şiirler değil. Hem hikayesi, hem duygusu, hem cesareti, hem gücü olan şiirler. Ayrıca İngilizce Ecem Hanım’ın ikinci dili olmasına rağmen aradaki farkı o kadar anlamıyorsunuz ki anlatamam.

Eğer İngilizce şiir kitabı arıyorsanız buyurun size güzel bir tane, diğerleriyle vakit kaybı yaşamayın.

[AYSEN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry means something like that. Penetrating into the soul of the human being, saying that you are not alone. When you let go of yourself into the book, see that each string carries life, carries love and sadness. Impressive…