Book review
Title- Swinging Emotions: Poetry of my youth
Author- Onyekaba N. Charles
publishers-Magic wand
Review by- Oli Jude Okechukwu (olijude@ovi.com)
Man is an emotional being and his reactions to life are emotional states. Swinging Emotions, a book of 31 poems, attempts to capture the reactionary emotional states of people to different conditions of life. The writing style is adept in its simplicity. It is consistent in delivering pointedly the vagaries of human existence- love, happiness, fear, grief, nostalgia, anxiety and so on.
Clear expressions of emotional states solidify its originality and comforts one in the blessed hope that you are not alone.
Who is he? Opens with a common human emotional expression of anxiety- ‘panic, unrest, pretenses everywhere!’. This magnifies the human propensity to be anxious, to worry. Anxiety is an emotional state in which people feel uneasy, apprehensive or fearful. People often experience anxiety about events they cannot control, predict or that seem threatening or dangerous.
‘There are times I feel so ashamed of the things I’ve said or done. There are certain memories I wish to erase forever’. These are the first lines of the poem ‘Blame me’. It explores the human capacity for shame and regret, another common human emotion.
Grief-stricken, the author holds back no emotion in the poem ‘Rest in peace’. The words ‘your memories still cast shadows even without the true image. I am in eerie loneliness and emptiness’ conveys the emotional response to death or other loss of a loved one. Dying individuals and their loved ones go through the human grieving process. Although the expression of grieving varies in some respects among societies and individuals, its basic aspects seem to be biological and universal.
The review is too short jo!
I could do a proper one – or better still, have NS do one for you.
Would like to read. Nice one.
Congratulations on being published.
I love the title of your book, and hope to come across it someday, somehow…
Congratulations!
Congrats my brother. E no easy. I think Seun’s suggestion is very good. And yes the review is too short and is a kind of stand-alone philosophy. For a book of 31 poems, the reviewer can’t afford to ‘waste’ so many lines on just two poems when other poems are begging to be reviewed.
Well done…and congrats again!
And your book cover is very very nice! Way to go!
Congratulations on getting published, but wait, isn’t it 31 poems and just these 2 or 3 got reviewed? Well, I think you can let NS do the review for you just as @seun-odukoya suggested.
Congrats again Bro
I like the title
I agree with all d views above,d review is too short bt its a good writeup
@ all………….wow!, thanks 2 everyone 4 everything……I appreciate the positives and will work on the negatives………its a learning processs u know. I guess dats why we are all here in d ist place…………….as regards the bookcover……..I guess part of what added 2 d beauty Is cos am an artist and a trained architect……………..while with regards 2 d short composition……..I want 2 say I specifically wanted a short one cos I don’t wanna bore us with a long description……..but wit regards 2 all ur comments now, I think we can improve on that now and perhaps get NS to do a book review 4 me if am briefed on d procedures
Another architect here!
Yea 4get to add that the book has since been launched since 14th march dis year and is avaiLable in some books shops around d yaba axis………….or better still cal 07032053133 4 ur copy……………NS memeber will be given copies on some discount…………thanks!
I loved the brevity of the review, and how it captured the overall essence of the book. Perfect for a book of about 31 poems. On another note, congratulations to you for getting published. It is a feat!
Congrats bro.
Review by Jude Oli Okechukwu???
As in Jude of Philosophy Uniben??
chemo……………….yes!.am an architect…are u a colleague?
thanks Mr. raymond
kaycee………………Yes, its the same JUde you know