Official Review: My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short S...
Posted: 04 Apr 2015, 12:29
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories" by April Mitchell.]
2 out of 4 stars
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My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories By April Mitchell
I read “My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories” by April Mitchell, a collection of short stories and poems by the author. This book is categorized as romance/erotica; however, it includes a whole lot more than just that. Throughout this book you can also find themes ranging from drama to horror, and religion to economical issues. It is definitely a “unique approach” in its wide scope.
I chose to review this book based on the theme. While I’m not usually a fan of poetry, I do enjoy reading about romance, so I thought that this might be a good opportunity to read some poetry that I might actually like. After reading the book, I am glad that I did, but have to admit that I am still not much of a fan of poetry. I think that this book would appeal most to female readers as it is written, for the most part, from a strong female’s perspective. I think this book would appeal least to people that find graphic sexual content to be off putting.
Overall I am giving this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. I give it this rating because the poetry flowed very nicely, and the book shows a lot of potential. While I enjoyed it in some ways, I did not give this book a rating of 3 because it’s just not there yet. In it’s current state, it is riddled with grammatical errors, which distracted greatly from the stories. One of the poems was included in the book twice. The short stories were, at times, very hard to read, as quotation marks for dialogue were inconsistent, and at times not even present. It just felt like the book was thrown together without much thought or care.
I also did not give this book a rating of 1 because I tried my best to judge the book on the ideas and the potential that it showed, and not entirely on it’s faults. The poetry showed some inconsistency with capital letters and punctuation, but the structure seemed to be good. The short stories had good story lines, and were interesting, but need some refining. I would not recommend this book in its current state, but I do believe that after editing it will improve drastically.
Something that I did not care for about this book was the way it bounced around without any sort of order. The title of the book does not limit the book to it’s content, so from that standpoint, nothing seemed like it didn’t belong; however, as I mentioned before, there are a lot of themes throughout this book. I think if the book were broken up into parts, it would benefit greatly. For me, reading a poem about sexual abuse, followed by a poem about romantic love was off putting, as the emotions depicted were in such high contrast to each other. If the poems were separated by theme, I think the audience would have a greater opportunity to feel, and appreciate, the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times, without feeling like their emotions are competing with each other.
Something that I did enjoy about this book was the author’s passion. It is evident that she is confident and has strong opinions, and I admire her ability to put those emotions into words. For this reason, I am glad that I decided to finish the book, even though it may have been a little out of my comfort zone.
In conclusion, “My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories” by April Mitchell contains mature content, spanning several genres. It is not a book that I would recommend at this time because, as it is, I do not think that it shows the author’s full potential. I hope that my criticism will be viewed as constructive, and will help the author continue to grow.
******
My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories
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2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories By April Mitchell
I read “My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories” by April Mitchell, a collection of short stories and poems by the author. This book is categorized as romance/erotica; however, it includes a whole lot more than just that. Throughout this book you can also find themes ranging from drama to horror, and religion to economical issues. It is definitely a “unique approach” in its wide scope.
I chose to review this book based on the theme. While I’m not usually a fan of poetry, I do enjoy reading about romance, so I thought that this might be a good opportunity to read some poetry that I might actually like. After reading the book, I am glad that I did, but have to admit that I am still not much of a fan of poetry. I think that this book would appeal most to female readers as it is written, for the most part, from a strong female’s perspective. I think this book would appeal least to people that find graphic sexual content to be off putting.
Overall I am giving this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. I give it this rating because the poetry flowed very nicely, and the book shows a lot of potential. While I enjoyed it in some ways, I did not give this book a rating of 3 because it’s just not there yet. In it’s current state, it is riddled with grammatical errors, which distracted greatly from the stories. One of the poems was included in the book twice. The short stories were, at times, very hard to read, as quotation marks for dialogue were inconsistent, and at times not even present. It just felt like the book was thrown together without much thought or care.
I also did not give this book a rating of 1 because I tried my best to judge the book on the ideas and the potential that it showed, and not entirely on it’s faults. The poetry showed some inconsistency with capital letters and punctuation, but the structure seemed to be good. The short stories had good story lines, and were interesting, but need some refining. I would not recommend this book in its current state, but I do believe that after editing it will improve drastically.
Something that I did not care for about this book was the way it bounced around without any sort of order. The title of the book does not limit the book to it’s content, so from that standpoint, nothing seemed like it didn’t belong; however, as I mentioned before, there are a lot of themes throughout this book. I think if the book were broken up into parts, it would benefit greatly. For me, reading a poem about sexual abuse, followed by a poem about romantic love was off putting, as the emotions depicted were in such high contrast to each other. If the poems were separated by theme, I think the audience would have a greater opportunity to feel, and appreciate, the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times, without feeling like their emotions are competing with each other.
Something that I did enjoy about this book was the author’s passion. It is evident that she is confident and has strong opinions, and I admire her ability to put those emotions into words. For this reason, I am glad that I decided to finish the book, even though it may have been a little out of my comfort zone.
In conclusion, “My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories” by April Mitchell contains mature content, spanning several genres. It is not a book that I would recommend at this time because, as it is, I do not think that it shows the author’s full potential. I hope that my criticism will be viewed as constructive, and will help the author continue to grow.
******
My Unique Approach to Poetry and Short Stories
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like spalisoul's review? Post a comment saying so!