Official Review: Travel in Time by Anisoara Laura Mustetiu

[Laura Lee]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Travel in Time" by Anisoara Laura Mustetiu.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The 13th-century Persian poet, Rumi, wrote: “Love is the soul's light, the taste of morning, no me, no we, no claim of being,” adding elsewhere, “Only the soul knows what love is.” Travel in Time: a life story in poems, by Anişoara Laura Musteţiu, proves that the sentiments expressed by Rumi nearly eight hundred years ago, still hold true today.

Travel in Time is a brilliantly executed collection of poetry that lays bare the heart of the poet. Written with sensitivity and a delicate touch, Musteţiu’s poems explore the various forms of love within the human experience. The book opens with the first blush of love’s promise in adolescence. It moves on to mature adult love, the loss of that love, and many more kinds of love: familial love, the love of a pet, the loss of potential love and finally, the celebration of love in life's very existence. Musteţiu’s poems show that although love always carries with it the possibility of loss, that possibility in no way diminishes the joy and beauty of the experience.

If you hear the word “poem” and your eyes immediately glaze over with nightmares of high school English while words like iambic pentameter, quatrain, epic poems, sonnets, and rhythm and rhyme make you break out into a cold sweat, Travel in Time will be a pleasant surprise. The poems are written in free verse which makes it much easier for someone unused to poetry to understand and appreciate.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about Travel in Time is that it follows a theme. So many books of self-published poetry are a mishmash of some wannabe poet’s scribblings. They are confusing and follow no clear theme. Not so with Travel in Time. This is, unapologetically, a book of love poems. Although not all of them are about romantic love, the theme is clear throughout. This makes for a clearer and more enjoyable read.

Although the book appears to have been carefully edited, there are some typos scattered throughout the book. However, these are not huge grammatical errors that would confuse the reader. They tend to be small so it is still possible to understand what the author is trying to express. I do not believe that English is Musteţiu’s native tongue. This accounts for most, if not all, of the mistakes. That said, her grasp of the English language is very good and her word-choice is refined, even elegant.

An added element I really enjoyed was the inclusion of illustrations. These were usually simple pen-and-ink drawings or, occasionally, watercolors, but the very simplicity of line and color was powerful and contributed to the richness of the reading experience.

I am very happy to give Travel in Time four out of four stars. If you are a lover of poetry, or if you’ve never really given poetry a chance but would like to try, I would encourage you to read this book. As Rumi said, “A lifetime without Love is of no account Love is the Water of Life Drink it down with heart and soul!”

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Travel in Time
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[Miraphery]

I am not a fan of poetry but this was such a nice review. If I want to read poetry, I'll take your advice and start with this. Nice job.

[Laurina Michael Olowoniran]

Love is the soul's food - that's what I think. I really do not like poetry right from high school but this sounds like it's going to be easy since you said the language is easy. Beautiful review

[Debra123]

It must be a good book and one I’m going to put it on my list. I haven’t read much poetry in the last few years, except Rumi, and a few others. I haven’t been inspired to read anything new, poetry-wise Now I am. Thank you for a great review and reminding me to expand my horizons. As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to understand that love really is the most important part of life.

[Dannyphery]

This is beautiful.... I love it...
Sounds really nice. I guess I'll give it a try.
Thanks for the review

[Laura Lee]

I am not a fan of poetry but this was such a nice review. If I want to read poetry, I'll take your advice and start with this. Nice job.

Thank you so much, Miraphery, for taking the time to read the review and leave a comment. This is a great book for both those new to poetry as well as those who already know they love poetry.

[Laura Lee]

Love is the soul's food - that's what I think. I really do not like poetry right from high school but this sounds like it's going to be easy since you said the language is easy. Beautiful review

Thank you, Laurina. I appreciate the comment. If you'd like to dip your toe into poetry, this is a good place to start. Also, try Ogden Nash. His poems are hilarious.

[Laura Lee]

This is beautiful.... I love it...
Sounds really nice. I guess I'll give it a try.
Thanks for the review

Thanks so much for the lovely comment! I truly do love this book.

[Mohammed_Sameer2]

Hi Laura, Your review of Anisoara Laura Mustetiu's Travel in Time is so good, that you read the speaker's experience of love in its special development inside the book, and you read her perspective of love according to our human, and cultural heritage.
I read the part of Laura's book which was published at Amazon, and I also noticed her tendency to a wonderful new form of lyric verses, her female recognition of the other who have some paradoxes, and also the poetic purity, and her trend to the state of performative actions with the nature signs.
Have a good time.
Dr. Mohammed Sameer Abd Elsalam

[inaramid]

I'm glad this isn't a "mishmash" of "scribblings", as you put it. I do think that's a problem for some poetry collections out there. Thanks for this review!

[Laura Lee]

I'm glad this isn't a "mishmash" of "scribblings", as you put it. I do think that's a problem for some poetry collections out there. Thanks for this review!

LOL That probably wasn't the most charitable way I could have phrased it but you obviously know what I'm talking about. Thanks for your comment!

[Laura Lee]

As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to understand that love really is the most important part of life.

Yes! This is true. You said that so well. It's fundamental to life, isn't it? Thanks so much for taking the time to share. I enjoyed your comment.

[Laura Lee]

Hi Laura, Your review of Anisoara Laura Mustetiu's Travel in Time is so good, that you read the speaker's experience of love in its special development inside the book, and you read her perspective of love according to our human, and cultural heritage.
I read the part of Laura's book which was published at Amazon, and I also noticed her tendency to a wonderful new form of lyric verses, her female recognition of the other who have some paradoxes, and also the poetic purity, and her trend to the state of performative actions with the nature signs.
Have a good time.
Dr. Mohammed Sameer Abd Elsalam

Thank you so much for your comment. Poetry is a love of mine, and there are so many different forms of it. About 10 years ago, a friend of mine in Cairo shared with me the Arabic poems he was studying at university. They were so incredibly complex, it blew me away! Poetry comes in so many forms and yet each one is so moving, it's like poetry is the language of the soul. Thank you for sharing! I enjoyed your comment.

[Mohammed_Sameer2]

Thanks for your interest Laura, I agree with you that poetry is the sound of soul, and you can notice also that the development of modern arabic poetry supported various modern, and postmodern ideas after romantic school, it transformed to symbolism, myth, surrealism, and postmodern decentralization. You also can see the aesthetic impact of many international poets; such as T. S. Eliot, Saint-John Perseو Konstantinos Kavafisو Yannis Ritsosو André Breton, and arabic international poet Joyce Mansour. They also confirmed the poetic techniques of contemporary prose poem after the heritage of Charles Baudelaire.
Have a nice time.
Dr. Mohammed Sameer

[Laura Lee]

Thanks for your interest Laura, I agree with you that poetry is the sound of soul, and you can notice also that the development of modern arabic poetry supported various modern, and postmodern ideas after romantic school, it transformed to symbolism, myth, surrealism, and postmodern decentralization. You also can see the aesthetic impact of many international poets; such as T. S. Eliot, Saint-John Perseو Konstantinos Kavafisو Yannis Ritsosو André Breton, and arabic international poet Joyce Mansour. They also confirmed the poetic techniques of contemporary prose poem after the heritage of Charles Baudelaire.
Have a nice time.
Dr. Mohammed Sameer

Thank you for such a fascinating answer. You know so much more about Arabic forms of poetry than I do. I just remember being fascinated by how complexly beautiful the poems were.