untamed

by Nusrat Aziz Mim

untamed is a collection of poetry that revolves around love, loss, and the melancholy that grazes a woman’s soul throughout transitions. The poems narrate the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experiences we go through in various phases of our lives. The verses of the poems strip down experiences to their rawest nature, dissecting and exploring women’s hearts and minds. Socially constructed barriers are further shredded to ribbons, as we evolve into our truest form and reemerge from the shackles as a warrior, as a woman.

Genres: Poetry

124 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2022

About the author

Nusrat Aziz Mim is a workaholic author who lives for coffee and chaos. Her passion for poetry inspired her to study literature and linguistics, where she graduated with a summa cum laude due to her love and dedication to the subject. She completed her master's in TESOL with another summa cum laude. Her debut poetry collection, untamed, represents her innermost feelings of love, duty, womanhood, letting go, religion, corruption, and, most of all, her journey as a woman. With this book, you will know Nusrat as well as a friend.

Reviews

[Musharrat Zahin · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, to be honest, I'm not a fan of poetry. But I do enjoy reading them on occasion. But this just wasn't for me, and that's okay.

I appreciate the sentiments behind this book, but I'm giving criticism to the book, not the author or everything she has spoken about. This book was just all over the place, with the poems bleeding into one another till they all just sounded like the repetition of the same damn thing. Moreover, the use of no capitalization at all made me more annoyed. It didn't work for me; all I got were some dubious blank pages. I get the theme, it was strong. But they don't look like what I think poems are. They were like: "Someone is sharing their own thoughts in a random way. It’s incoherent, I had so many expectations from this book, but it turned out to be nothing less than a colossal disappointment. I’m aware that she's a new writer. But tossing a couple of random phrases together made them blunt: UGH! She has things to say, but she makes little to no effort to say them well. I'm not discouraging her, but she has a long way to go.

[Chandreyee Momo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Unwitnessed love
Is no love at all
Like the words unheard
Undone verse
Or the letters
With no address
Lost in crowd"
.
.
.
"Promise You'll survive too tomorrow know I'll love you through the sorrow"
.
.
."Don't die too young
Or too alone"
.
.
'Untamed' is a collection of poetry that speaks so many expressions like love, loss, laughter, emptiness of heart of a woman.

বইটি খুব আস্তে আস্তে পড়েছি আমি। মানে বলা যায় একদিনে হয়তো দুটো বা তিনটে কবিতা। মোট ১০০টি কবিতা নিয়ে পুরো বইটি। এবং প্রতিটা কবিতাই খুব গভীর, সুন্দর এবং অর্থবহ৷ লেখিকা কিছু কবিতায় তুলে ধরেছেন ভালবাসা, সেটির আনন্দ, আবার কষ্ট, হাহাকার।
আবার কিছু কবিতায় দেখা যায় একটা মানুষের জীবনে বিভিন্ন পর্যায়ে সে কত ধরনের অনুভূতির সম্মুখীন হয় সে বিষয়টি।
লেখিকা খুব সুন্দর ভাবে তার মনের আনাচেকানাচের অনেক কথা কবিতাগুলোয় পোর্টে করেছেন। সমাজে একজন নারীর যে কতকিছুর সামনে দাঁড়াতে সেটা হয়তো সেই মানুষটা ছাড়া কেউ বোঝেনা। সমাজের বিভিন্ন অসঙ্গতি, মানুষের চিন্তাধারার মধ্যের সমস্যাগুলোও কিছু কবিতায় পেয়েছি।
বেশ ভাল লেগেছে সব মিলিয়ে। সবচেয়ে সুন্দর বিষয়টা হলো অনেকগুলো কবিতা রিলেট করতে পারছিলাম নিজের সাথে।
এটি লেখিকার প্রথম বই। তার জন্য অনেক অনেক শুভকামনা। এবং আমাকে বইটি পাঠানোর জন্য অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ।

বইটার প্রোডাকশন এবং প্রচ্ছদ খুব সুন্দর। প্রচ্ছদটা একদম অন্যরকম সুন্দর। সাথে একটা খুবই সুন্দর বুকমার্ক ও দেয়া ছিল।
প্রচ্ছদ করেছেন - Nowrin Akter Nisat


আপনারা বইটি সংগ্রহ করে পড়তে পারেন। যারা কবিতা পছন্দ করেন তারা অবশ্যই পড়ুন। আশা করি ভাল লাগবে।❤️

[Nusfaq Mahmood · Rating 4 out of 5]

" you're an embarrassment denying to represent the society
the place you're born, denying your identity
denying to speak of the wrongs, rights, and inequality
thinking why me, let someone else do it for me
while in your silence,
some other has to cry "why me, why me?"
but now, we're so used to it,
because we don't exist, no, we don't exist.
you think things will get better,
without any effort; you sit idle,
in shameless silence, in the darkest corner of your mind. "

I received the arc of this beautiful collection of poems and I was in awe. I took my time to finish the book and it was such a great experience. The writer talked about society, corruption, love, duty, loss, suffering, hatred, anger, womanhood, and whatnot throughout her poems. Some of the poems were so damn relatable as a South-Asian woman that I had to annotate and scribble my thoughts on the pages. Hope this says how much I loved some of the poems that ~ I couldn't help but put tabs on 'em. If you are still new to this genre and looking for something to explore, do give it a shot. And if you are an avid lover of poetry- this is worth checking. When she mentioned "I'll Mummify my soul in words," - she wasn't lying, and I would vouch that she succeeds to do so through her debut work. Looking forward to reading more from her. It's an absolute delight.

ps. The book cover is mesmerizing! xx

[Raian (ThatQuirkyBookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌,
𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕
𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚
𝑰 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒛𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔..."

These are some of my favorite lines from the book "Untamed" by Nusrat Aziz Mim. I wouldn't be lying if I told you that the whole book have become one of my favorites!

Untamed is a collection of poetry that revolves around love, loss, duty, womanhood, letting go, religion, corruption, and most of all, the melancholy that grazes a woman’s soul throughout transitions. Just like Nusrat apu said in one of her poems, "I'll Mummify my soul in words," all the poems of her book beautifully narrates the numerous experiences we go through in various phases of our lives into her own words.

[Rima Sarmin · Rating 1 out of 5]

#𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬
book - 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱
author - nusrat aziz mim
genre - poetry
personal rating - i can’t rate something that went over my head (but added 1 star here for the sake of others)

𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸

so, about two weeks ago, i received an arc (advanced reading copy) of the book “untamed” from Starlin Books BD. it is an upcoming book, written by nusrat aziz mim and starlin is her printing partner.

the author offered to gift an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. and when it comes to books, i like to be as honest as possible about my thoughts and opinion without sugarcoating anything.

𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁-

“untamed” is a collection of poetry, expressing feminism (?), the social condition of women, how they are treated, our mental state toward women, love, loss, betrayal, random thoughts, and whatnot.

𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁

there was a time, often still is, when poetry used to be a reflection of the author’s soul. even those who don’t usually enjoy reading poetry (like me), would love getting lost in them from time to time because they would make sense.

and now, some “modern” poetry is something i can never understand.

𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧
𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞,
𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧
𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧
𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬
𝐚𝐧𝐝
𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦

i blame rupi kaur for giving people the wrong idea about poetry. but hey! at least some of her poems did make sense.

but i cannot say the same for “untamed”. maybe the author tried saying something so deep that the meaning never made it out of its hole. the “poems” are more like random scribble than poetry. something i would not even put up as a facebook post, let alone make a whole book out of them.

many of the poems’ overall themes seemed pretty repetitive. everything is written in small letters (like this review). and there were several poems using the word “wh*rehouse” without necessarily needing it.

pages of the book are wasted with only a few sentences containing a few words written. i would have looked past that if they at least made good sense or said something meaningful.

i didn’t like the book from start. but i kept on reading, taking my time, hoping that i would find something good to say about it. unfortunately, i couldn’t. my sister gave up after a few pages. even those who read parts of the book through me disliked it (which says a lot).

as an aspiring but scared-to-get-published writer myself, the last thing i wanted to do is discourage a debuting writer. yet i cannot call something good simply to please the writer and give false ideas and hope.

the writer did have some good ideas, that i must add. but the execution was clearly very poor. hopefully, she will try harder next time (?).

My bookstagram: rima_sarmin

[Sagufta Haq · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some poems, the author is questioning society for being cruel, not directly but through people's sufferings. Then in some others, she is saying, just saying, not complaining much this time- how her heart is dying. Then again she is questioning herself if these sorrows and untamed feelings are needed to become a protagonist of a novel or to become a poem and this time she admits that, she believes- if there were no sufferings, her life would have been too literal and boring to live. She both tried to write down her untamed innermost words and also exaggerate them to entertain the readers. But often repeated the same thing.

I didn’t have any high expectations as it's probably just her debut as a published author. But she definitely surprised me. She has some good thoughts to write down, although not executed perfectly sometimes. I don't know if these poems are considered well-written from a literary view or not, but I liked reading them. All of these poems are comforting to read, allow one to feel instantly connected with the words and give every reader's -especially female readers' in some cases- everyday thoughts an acknowledgement. If I say more specifically, this poetry book tells us- I know what you are going through, I've been there and all these feelings are real. That's it, this is how simple yet 'good to read' it is.

[Tanjiba Prionty · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔”

First thanks a lot @nusratazizmim for sending me the arc of this beautiful book.

Untamed is a collection of beautiful poetry that revolves around love, loss, and the melancholy that grazes a woman’s soul throughout transitions. We can see here how society can be very cruel to people and how it affects us.

I wasn’t expecting much when I started reading this, but I’m amazed at how beautiful this book was. I’m not much of a poetry reader and I hardly understand them word for word. But this one was very easy to understand and some of them are so beautiful. I would very likely go back again and read my favorite ones. This book may not be perfect in a literary sense as, in some places, the author might have executed her words differently than the readers’ expectations, but I personally liked it quite a lot.

[Rifah Tasfia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I don't read poetry but I quite enjoyed this one. Thank you for sending this book to me.

To be honest, I don't understand poetry that much. Sometimes I can derive the inner meaning, most of the times I can't. And I think I'm not the person who can review a poetry book. Now, as I got the book, I read it and I'm going to leave a small review.

This book is a collection of 100 poems, both long and short. I guess poems always reflect what the poet is thinking or experiencing. In this book she brought some reality checks. I'm not someone who can judge the quality of her poetry, so I'm not going to do this. But she brought some facts into words that we face our day to day life. I wish for the writer's bright future and I hope she'll write more beautiful poems in future.

[Rahnuma Aziz Nisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Experiences that a Bangladeshi girl goes through in her day to day life. I believe pretty much every woman can relate to her words. A great read indeed!

[Afra Binte Azad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few weeks ago, Starlin Book BD sent me a copy of Nusrat Aziz Mim’s debut poetry collection “Untamed”. Poetry isn’t essentially my preferred genre of literature. But Isabel Allende’s “A Long Petal of the Sea” has recently piqued my interest in Pablo Neruda’s poem. So, the timing couldn’t be any better. The subtle interest I had in poetry in the past year has been rekindled over the past few weeks.“Untamed” ventures into the dimension of many things. We see the rough-edged disposition of love, social commentary on the never-ending demands from womanhood, and the unwavering convolution of faith. All of these themes are blanketed with the vulnerable feeling of being a maladjustment in various periods of life in this book. The delivery of the sentiments is passively confrontational at its core. I rarely veer away from melancholic content. Even though the poems are sporadically anticlimactic at certain points, the book manages to provoke a strong emotive reaction. “Untamed” impeccably serves the tone of melancholia. Nevertheless, the poems are introspective. The depth of this book perfectly portrays the cluttered chaos of our minds. The book is truly a solemn character all on its own.

[Zaima Fariha Ontara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Untamed" is a collection of poems written by Nusrat Aziz Mim. I must say this book is amazing! While reading the poems, it seemed my own thoughts,my emotions,unexpressed feelings were reflected through the flow of each poems.

In total there are 100 poems and most of them are about women, their love, emotions, sensitive nature, struggles, challenges, discriminations! Also their strength, courage & how they stand up against the oppressions they face in every level! I felt every word was telling me deep down what a woman feels and i truly could relate myself.

The poet used very plain and simple language that anyone can perceive it so easily. There were couple of book that i got to read last year and untamed is worth recommending. May be Its going to be your favorite one too .

Thank you apu for sending this book to me! I am utterly grateful. Looking forward to your next work. Best wishes.

[Wasit · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I stumbled upon untamed was to look for new and upcoming poets because all I have read are the greats such as Shakespeare, Plath and my all time favorite Robert Frost. I wanted to hear the voice of someone new and fresh and I am so glad I did.

Through Amazon, I bought the book and it came in around 1 week and I started reading it. Let me just shoot the obvious: the cover looks phenomenal, it looks like something from a college art project. I would love for a white version of the book if there is a chance that it ever releases major props to the artists, it fits the quality of the book well.

Other than the art, let's talk about the book itself. I feel as though the writing style Ms. Mim uses is very emotional and hyperbolic in a good way, I feel as though for these reasons the book would be easily understood by most people. In the poetry itself, I would say that Ms. Mim uses her words like a swift knife cutting into meat. Quickly getting to a point no meandering on a certain structure or focusing on rhyming schemes or any of the usual poetry hallmarks. I find this style of poetry very refreshing, It's pure raw emotion with every poem to get a certain point across.

I think the poems themselves all connect to paint this story of a dark view of the poet’s life. It is about heartache, betrayal, existential dread, womanhood and rebirth. It showed me a window to look at society and gender I am not a part of. At the end of the day, I got to read a work that conveys a view of the world that I would not have otherwise experienced. I loved it, it was a very entertaining read.

Now on to some criticisms. I hope if Ms. Mim reads this, you will take it as constructive feedback. Some of the poems are very short and I mean extremely short, like two lines. I understand that all in all this is art and you write what needs to be written no more no less but if people are paying for a book they would not want to see a lot of blank space. I feel as though if drawings were added even if they were doodles it would add a lot to the poetry because at the end of the day it is a medium to show emotions more than anything. Secondly, this is more of a nitpick than anything, the book is very dark and almost bleak at times. Again you are the artist, you choose what you would like to write and not write. But my favorite poems in the book are the ones that were about love and rebirth. I felt that there was a lot of motivation and inspiration while writing those poems. Not saying there wasn't in the others but these were very special.

In conclusion, I find untamed to be a delightful read. I loved looking through the eyes, and I love how it is her work, all in all, no hard structure is needed just a stream of words given by the author's deepest emotions. I recommend this book. Give this book a shot if you are interested in poetry or want to get into it. Do be warned the subject matter is very bleak at times, but if you can handle that you will not regret this read. This author deserves more recognition for her book.

I end this review with my favorite line from the book.

“I freeze you in this moment like the sound of the waves”

I'm glad I became a fan of Ms. Mim’s early works. I am looking forward to what she writes next.

[Reader ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

' Untamed ' is a collection of both big and small poems . The poems were about human life , their known and unnoticed situations that they have to face all the time and about womanhood. I honestly could feel a connection with some of the poems mainly because how relatable and true they were......... There are some moments in our life that seem ordinary, but when those moments were put so beautifully into the poems , then it sometimes brought tears and sometimes brought a small smile to my face .

Poets pour their thoughts , observations , feelings into poetry in a way that i could never accomplish. I'm not an expert anyway so that's another thing .But for this book i took my time to read it & tried to relate myself with the poems . While reading them i realized that this is not a book to read & put aside but to savor & turn repeatedly over the years.

Tbh i didn't think i would enjoy this book as much as I did. I'm greatly thankful to Nusrat Aziz Mim apu for sending me this beautiful book.

[Nafis Anwar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audre Lorde in one of her essays said, “This is poetry as illumination, for it is through poetry that we give name to those ideas which are, until the poem, nameless and formless-about to be birthed, but already felt. That distillation of experience from which true poetry springs births thought as dream births concept, as feeling births idea, as knowledge births (precedes) understanding”

Throughout Nusrat Aziz Mim’s “untamed”, I experienced ideas that I’ve already felt but never knew or thought about. This book illustrates ideas of feminism, of society and its cruelties, of faith, of love, of melancholy and of day to day life. I had a strong connection to the majority of the poems contained in this collection.

“I’ll mummify my soul
In words” - Nusrat Aziz Mim

I enjoyed the writing throughout the books. I think the way to enjoy this book is to read a few poems at a time. And spending a while with the poems. The book has a total of 100 poems, and it will end before you know it, so savor the book. 10/10. Would recommend.

[Subah Sadika Rahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐
𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆,
𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒑 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒆"
.
.
.
𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 by @nusratazizmim is a collection of poems that revolves around love,loss and the melancholy that grazes a woman's soul throughout transitions. I absolutely loved this book. It brought me to tears for several times. Loved the way author potrayed the scenario of a woman's life through such strong words and defined how women are taught to see themselves. As women we lose ourselves in other people. We sometimes forget that we are worth the love and we are important, too.

This collection of poems is so deep.It says words that so many of us thought but never spoke of. This book hits you,breaks you and at the end it comforts you. In conclusion, 𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 is simply stunning!

[Rihdi Tateyama · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25🌟

untamed by nusrat aziz mim

“i’ll mummify my soul in words.”

i had an amazing time reading all the poems even though it’s not my usual genre to read it. the moment i picked up this book and read the first line, i knew this was going to be a strong, fascinating and heavy poetry book that i’ll like.

the themes of love, sorrow, and the misery that nips at a woman's spirit during changes are all present in the poetry book untamed. the poems describe the various stages of our lives and the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual events we go through. the poems' verses examine and analyse women's hearts and souls by reducing situations to their most basic elements.

[Fariha Binte Islam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being untamed has its own beauty where the bold self resides and bows to none. Some souls hold the beauty, it's fierce till it's tamed. The book "untamed" represented a picture of a bold and unapologetic soul. It has talked about many norms in a poetic manner and managed to captivate my soul. Surprisingly the 1st and the last 2 was my favorite poem. So, it's evident it had a quick punch to the beginning and end. My emotions were going through a roller coaster. Overall, I was pleased by the book and its concept itself. So, well recommended!!

[Eshadi Sharif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huge thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of her book!

Before I begin the review, I would like to comment a bit on poetry itself. There was a time when good poetry was meant to be recited out loud, when meter and alliterations were key. It was used to tell stories and convey messages to people in an entertaining format. Throughout the years, the body of poetry has changed - rhymes are ignored, literary devices put to the side, form is forgotten. Yet, across generations, the one thing that has always been consistent with poetry is that it is one of the best ways for a writer to pen down their most personal thoughts. Even though I enjoy and appreciate the traditional form of poetry, I try to keep an open mind with the contemporary kaur-style poetry. I have already come to the conclusion, though, that the traditional style is generally more well-received among readers.

Anyways, getting back on track - Untamed is about the different faces of womanhood. I read it in one sitting and I believe that is how it should be read, because the shifts between vulnerable, strength, anger - they’re all more easy to grasp if you take it all in one bite. The book starts with poems that carry a lot of strength and pack a punch, it is very clear commentary on feminism. However somewhere along the way, the poetry delves into a vulnerable space, which I found to be a bit frustrating - and fascinating at the same time. When I talk about womanhood, I try not to explore heartbreak or pining, it has always felt weak to me, and that is why I felt frustrated. But truth be told, vulnerability is part of the human experience. Towards the end, the book makes a phoenix-like move where the language becomes much more aggressive, with lots of feminist rage. In some ways, this collection of poetry also read like a story with its own build up and resolution.

However, I should still mention that such structure is not new. It can still be criticised for following the trend of two to three lined blunt poetry, which I personally am not a fan of.

[Ainun Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start off by appreciating how pretty the cover is! Simple yet elegant. It looks even more stunning in person.

I received the copy days before my finals started. Though I couldn't wait to read every single poem, I turned pages whenever I had time and just knew I would love it.The whole book had a feminine touch - not the flowery, soothing kind but one that reminds someone of the storm's rage. It rebels against various social norms. Everyday emotions were painted with poetic words and they rang perfectly with the feelings.

The poem arrangement felt remarkable to me. It built up emotions thoroughly throughout the book. The pace was perfect and it ended as strongly as it had started. For me, who is not an avid reader of poetry, the book was really appealing. Definitely recommended!

[wandering. bibliophile_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for the review
copy 💕

This is something totally different from what I
usually read and I'm so glad I got to read this
book. This is a poetry book revolving around the
life and phases of a woman, emotions, conflicts
and difficulties, sacrifices and losses, the wins
and the empowering of a woman's life.
This is a short book and I went through it pretty
fast. I would love to go back and read my
favourites again some other time. And also I
absolutely love the cover of this book😍

[Lubaba Sadat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems in this book echo what we all feel, what we all see but never quite manage to string together because we are so blinded by our own heartache. Thank you to the poet for letting me know that even if we truly are alone in this world, it is a feeling that runs like roots and anchor us all together. Your writing is beautiful and I am so glad the world gets to experience it 💗

[Nusrath ✨🌙 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 rounded off.
the reason i picked up a poetry book is solely to dissect a bengali author, it's rare to see bengali women taking such strides and i did want to support the ambition, no matter how it turns out. Thus, despite the following critiques and gushing, congratulations to the writer for even getting this far.

now, lets talk about some of my favorite parts of the collection.
#14
*"...i want to be loved unconditionally
without you knowing how my day went
without knowing my caste, my desires
because they are all the same old stories of survival."*
it was one of the early ones, and did set up a good foundation for me because it was relatable, cohesive and well put-together.
#15
*"...love's so naive
yet, love knows i can be so weak
love knows i cry
love loves my silly optimism..."*
this was my personal favorite- the whole way she addressed her subject as love, the way that she personified love, and honestly just adored the writing style.
there are some more like, #32, #82, #74, #76 that are genuine pretty good.

now, lets come to the part that made me scribble in the books constantly.
- the grammar was poor more often than not, and i understand that a lot of it could be a stylistic choice but i guess it's just not something i enjoy at all, and it served no actual purpose.
especially in #11, the back of basic punctuations, the usage of "the" when the vagueness should be stated with "a", the over-use of sentence breaking really stood out to me.
- a LOT of them were less than 5 lines. i understand that poems don't have to be a certain word-count to be good but she chooses great themes, and then just doesn't expand on them. and that's truly very frustrating.
like #18 was just two lines.
*"promise you'll survive too tomorrow
know i'll love through the sorrow"*
like...i love the idea of lovers trying to float for each other but how am i supposed to root for a writer that has opened the realm of topic for me without elaborating in the slightest?
- it's pretty fucking corny. poetry can be corny and good, but i guess to me it was just bad corny. a lot of her comparisons just...aren't it.
in #68,
*"we are universes
we merely tend to forget"*
who took me back to tumblr?
in #40,
*"i drank them
with your blood
as wine"*
mgk and meghan?
- #73 allowed me to see my problem with most of this collection- lack of consistency. maybe that's just how poets do it but our writer has issues with following a theme. like, here, when talking about her inner child and the way that humans grow and mature and still are ultimately slaves to their inner child, the next paragraph for some reason starts talking about *"the evil will turn into a beast, looking for a god who doesn't exist"* like...what was the context? why? what led to this jump in topic, despite being such a talented writer she falls into the same trap a lot of writer fall into- being too rash.

anyways, overall, i'm glad bengali women are getting more recognition for their work. Despite my gripes with this, i will most likely continue to support her, and hope she puts out a banger the next time.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Untamed by Nusrat Aziz Mim | 3.5/5 stars ★★★☆☆

What I love the most about poetry is how it exposes our deepest and darkest secrets, fears, hopes, and dreams. But it's hard to "review" poems, for they can take on completely new forms and change meanings depending on who's reading them and how they perceive the world.

Sometimes reading poems can feel like getting a peak into someone's personal diary entry, an intimate secret they kept hidden from the rest of the world, bared for everyone to see. It's scary and exciting at the same time. That is the feeling I got while reading this book.

The raw and honest feelings Nusrat shares through her words struck a chord in me, as I too, could relate to some of the struggles and triumphs of what it means to be a woman in this contemporary society and the fear and constant self-doubt that comes with being a writer and an artist.

I like how the poems range from all sorts of topics like gender politics, religion, love, loss, and everything in between. The ones on writing and womanhood were my favs, while the love poems were a bit of a miss personally for me. Swipe to see some of my favorite poems from the book.

Thank you so much to @nusratazizmim for gifting me a copy of the book to review.

[Nawrin L̶i̶r̶a̶ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

I finished this book last year but couldn't update my progress as I had a tight schedule and now that I'm finally free I wanted to talk about this book a little bit here first.

First off, the poems seemed too personal, either this book wasn't meant for me or I couldn't connect to the poems. Perhaps I couldn't connect to the poems because I'm really not a fan of poetry that much, in fact I rarely read poetry books.

So I thought deeply for a long time before rating this book, as I hardly ever read poetry books, I had to judge this book carefully, since I couldn't get attached to any poems except few, I assume poetry genre isn't just my cup of tea. I felt like some poems were too short and repetitive which sort of made me sleepy while reading. And I'll admit that I prefer rhymed poetry to free verse poetry, so this is another reason I couldn't enjoy this reading these poems as much I expected.

Overall it was a quick and easy read and the cover is gorgeous. Sadly this book didn't work for me, hence this late review. But if someone enjoys reading short free versed poetry for refreshment then this book is for them.






Thanks to the author for the review copy in exchange for an honest review

[Tahsilovesbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite things about reading is when I see my thoughts and opinions about different aspects of life reflected on the writing of the books. This was one of those kind of books. The one that brings some of my own thoughts and feelings regarding life on the pages 🖤

As I read this poetry book, I experienced all the author's feelings as she did. I felt her rage and frustration towards the unjust society.
I loved how simply yet in an impactful way the author reveals the core problem of the people in our community.

It's said that poetry is painting that speaks, and Untamed just showed me how true that is ♡

[Saika Mehnaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally, poetry is not my cup of tea as the words tend to be too profound to understand. However, in this instance, I decided to pick up this book to support local authors, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.

And I did love all the words, that rhymed and that didn't. The book delves into life, society, and emotions that we often dread, all in just a few words.

Although it is possible to read the book in one sitting, I would not recommend it. This collection of poetry should be read slowly, allowing time to comprehend the words and get lost in some much-needed "me-time".

[Anik · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw that she published her first book I just had to read it. NGL I bought and read it to see if she wrote about me. I’m not big on poetry, but the writing was strong and incredible, just like her. Hope she reads this someday and knows that I am proud of her.