Review of Poems About Things That Mattered Most
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Shan Socha
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- Latest Review: Poems About Things That Mattered Most by Bob Dowell
Review of Poems About Things That Mattered Most
[Following is a volunteer review of "Poems About Things That Mattered Most" by Bob Dowell.]
“Poems About Things That Mattered Most” is a collection of memoirs about — well — things that mattered, in the life of a casual poet. Not claiming to be a poet, the author shares with the reader something precious: his musings about life events and things of value that he wrote down in the course of living his life, and invites the reader to listen in.
The author humbly holds these writings out to the prospective reader to browse, to find what resonates, and to skip what doesn’t. In this refreshing introduction to his offerings, he does not claim to be an expert, but a fellow voyager in life. While there are many ways that memoirs could be presented, I love that he presents it in a framework of “things that mattered most” to him. It was precisely that reason that drew me to the book. Since each person on earth has things that matter in their lives, the topic is relatable in this way. As with any memoir, reading episodes from the author’s life brought to mind memories of similar events in mine. And yet, he does not assume that what matters to him is necessarily what matters to the reader, because the reader is instructed to read what they enjoy, and skip the rest. This further invited me in, even as I began to notice that there were some topics that would be triggering for me.
In terms of readability, this book is a mixed bag for me. While I love the personal aspect of the memoirs, I struggled with whether or not the book had ulterior motives that are geared toward politics and religion. The tagline for the book is “Faith, Family, Country”. Many potential readers could tune out based on the tagline, for these words represent topics that are deeply polarized in America’s present cultural climate. Obviously, the author must write about the things that mattered most to him, and indeed, these topics do matter a great deal to most people. I just wish that those topics were left to be more subtly communicated to me, between the lines so to speak, just within the poems themselves.
I give this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. It was a difficult choice, and I believe this has the potential to be a 3 star, or even 4-star book. As I read, I wanted to enter into this writer’s life. I wanted that synergistic experience of finding oneself inside of someone else’s story, based on shared humanity. I was not able to do that because of this suspicion that around the corner I might be preached at. Dropping -- or changing -- the tagline would likely go a long way to give me a more relaxed experience of this book. What could potentially have boosted this book to a 4-star rating would be something in the introduction that gives a glimpse into the mindset of the writer’s actual feelings about country, for example a sampling from the poem about what it actually is that he feels makes America great -- a history of gradually progressing into its claim of valuing the equality of all people.
Given these stated considerations, as it is presented the book would be most enjoyed by conservative Christians. As my comments above suggest, I think it could be presented in a way that is more attractive to a broader readership.
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Poems About Things That Mattered Most
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
“Poems About Things That Mattered Most” is a collection of memoirs about — well — things that mattered, in the life of a casual poet. Not claiming to be a poet, the author shares with the reader something precious: his musings about life events and things of value that he wrote down in the course of living his life, and invites the reader to listen in.
The author humbly holds these writings out to the prospective reader to browse, to find what resonates, and to skip what doesn’t. In this refreshing introduction to his offerings, he does not claim to be an expert, but a fellow voyager in life. While there are many ways that memoirs could be presented, I love that he presents it in a framework of “things that mattered most” to him. It was precisely that reason that drew me to the book. Since each person on earth has things that matter in their lives, the topic is relatable in this way. As with any memoir, reading episodes from the author’s life brought to mind memories of similar events in mine. And yet, he does not assume that what matters to him is necessarily what matters to the reader, because the reader is instructed to read what they enjoy, and skip the rest. This further invited me in, even as I began to notice that there were some topics that would be triggering for me.
In terms of readability, this book is a mixed bag for me. While I love the personal aspect of the memoirs, I struggled with whether or not the book had ulterior motives that are geared toward politics and religion. The tagline for the book is “Faith, Family, Country”. Many potential readers could tune out based on the tagline, for these words represent topics that are deeply polarized in America’s present cultural climate. Obviously, the author must write about the things that mattered most to him, and indeed, these topics do matter a great deal to most people. I just wish that those topics were left to be more subtly communicated to me, between the lines so to speak, just within the poems themselves.
I give this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. It was a difficult choice, and I believe this has the potential to be a 3 star, or even 4-star book. As I read, I wanted to enter into this writer’s life. I wanted that synergistic experience of finding oneself inside of someone else’s story, based on shared humanity. I was not able to do that because of this suspicion that around the corner I might be preached at. Dropping -- or changing -- the tagline would likely go a long way to give me a more relaxed experience of this book. What could potentially have boosted this book to a 4-star rating would be something in the introduction that gives a glimpse into the mindset of the writer’s actual feelings about country, for example a sampling from the poem about what it actually is that he feels makes America great -- a history of gradually progressing into its claim of valuing the equality of all people.
Given these stated considerations, as it is presented the book would be most enjoyed by conservative Christians. As my comments above suggest, I think it could be presented in a way that is more attractive to a broader readership.
******
Poems About Things That Mattered Most
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Poems About Things That Mattered Most by Bob Dowell
