Official Review: Broken Silence by Gennaro Episcopo
Posted: 08 Aug 2014, 17:06
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Broken Silence" by Gennaro Episcopo.]
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Broken Silence is a book of poems written by Gennaro Episcopo. I give it a two out of four star rating simply because the mournful tone of the book was not to my taste, but very well could be for others.
Reading the preface, you are introduced to the intention of the book. Silence. You can kind of guess from the title that it is not a calming, serene silence; but a broken one. This is what I had guessed anyway, and I was rewarded for my assumption immediately after reading the introduction.
Throughout the entirety of the poems, I got a sense that the subject, or main character, is a man. However; not to presume anything, it very well could be a female lamenting for her former female lover. Since it is written in first person, the character truly has no identity, except for what is created in the reader's mind. I, myself, like to think of it as a personal message from Episcopo and a dear tragic incident that may have happened in his life and his poems were his way of grieving over time. It is defined as “Other Fiction”, so again the main character is up for some debate.
The book seems to be a collection of poems that bring you through the main character's grieving process after a break up or death. The conflict that leads to the remorse is unclear.
There were two things that I absolutely loved about Episcopo's writings. First was the sheer emotion of the poems. This a definite read for someone who needs to feel like there is someone else out there that has experienced loss, whether it be heartbreak or death. Even though I am not in need of a good cry at the moment, my sympathy went out to the character. I would describe the writing style as dreary, as intended.
Second, is how descriptive Episcopo was in most of the poems. As I read along I could feel, or at the very least, imagine the scenery and my surroundings to a high degree.
Now on to the things I wasn't very fond of. First off, I felt like I was reading the same few poems over and over. After a few of them, a really good one would pop out and surprise me, and then it would slow down again to the same slow tempo and I found myself just wanting to hurry through the character's sorrow.
Second, I emphasize that this is very much a sad read and if the reader is not in a similar mood, it just doesn't read or mix well.
Third, there is a very obvious spelling/grammatical error in the poem Islands. It is spelled "Isalnds" in the title. Unless this is a foreign way of spelling Islands, an American or English reader would be put off by the obvious mispelling of the word as I was. I referenced the index for further examination and in the index it is spelled Islands.
Overall, I believe Episcopo is a good writer. He knows how to tap into sad emotion very well. However; I am not sure of his array of emotion, as this book is intent on setting one tone.
This book was not really for me, however; I would not rip it off a shelf anytime soon since I could very well see many people needing the connection the poems provide.
***
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Reading the preface, you are introduced to the intention of the book. Silence. You can kind of guess from the title that it is not a calming, serene silence; but a broken one. This is what I had guessed anyway, and I was rewarded for my assumption immediately after reading the introduction.
Throughout the entirety of the poems, I got a sense that the subject, or main character, is a man. However; not to presume anything, it very well could be a female lamenting for her former female lover. Since it is written in first person, the character truly has no identity, except for what is created in the reader's mind. I, myself, like to think of it as a personal message from Episcopo and a dear tragic incident that may have happened in his life and his poems were his way of grieving over time. It is defined as “Other Fiction”, so again the main character is up for some debate.
The book seems to be a collection of poems that bring you through the main character's grieving process after a break up or death. The conflict that leads to the remorse is unclear.
There were two things that I absolutely loved about Episcopo's writings. First was the sheer emotion of the poems. This a definite read for someone who needs to feel like there is someone else out there that has experienced loss, whether it be heartbreak or death. Even though I am not in need of a good cry at the moment, my sympathy went out to the character. I would describe the writing style as dreary, as intended.
Second, is how descriptive Episcopo was in most of the poems. As I read along I could feel, or at the very least, imagine the scenery and my surroundings to a high degree.
Now on to the things I wasn't very fond of. First off, I felt like I was reading the same few poems over and over. After a few of them, a really good one would pop out and surprise me, and then it would slow down again to the same slow tempo and I found myself just wanting to hurry through the character's sorrow.
Second, I emphasize that this is very much a sad read and if the reader is not in a similar mood, it just doesn't read or mix well.
Third, there is a very obvious spelling/grammatical error in the poem Islands. It is spelled "Isalnds" in the title. Unless this is a foreign way of spelling Islands, an American or English reader would be put off by the obvious mispelling of the word as I was. I referenced the index for further examination and in the index it is spelled Islands.
Overall, I believe Episcopo is a good writer. He knows how to tap into sad emotion very well. However; I am not sure of his array of emotion, as this book is intent on setting one tone.
This book was not really for me, however; I would not rip it off a shelf anytime soon since I could very well see many people needing the connection the poems provide.
***
Buy "Broken Silence" on Amazon