Review of Hold Your Breath

[Arianne Joy Melendres]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Hold Your Breath" by Rana Bitar.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Hold Your Breath by Rana Bitar is an anthology of sixteen poems that she wrote during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone suffered from the pandemic to varying degrees, and this is how Rana expressed the feelings she experienced as a physician. This is a book that is brimming with her experiences with her patients and family. This book is short, but full of pages that speak of heartfelt and familiar panic, fear, and grief.

I would easily recommend this book to readers that enjoy poems, especially those who prefer poems that target the heart. Rana’s poems are the very definition of poignant, and the degree of depth at which she writes is one that I hope will also be appreciated by others. I certainly liked how Rana explored various literary structures and rhythmic patterns, so I would also recommend this book to those who like seeing good literature in practice.

Due to the sensitivity of the topic, however, I suggest that everyone first ask themselves if they are in the right emotional capacity before picking up this book. Rana’s poems may either bring a sense of empathy, or they could trigger memories of death, grief, and hardships that some of us are not yet ready to face.

There is nothing I disliked about this book. Rana shares her deepest memories, thoughts, and feelings about the pandemic with heartbreaking honesty. I study pharmaceutical sciences and aim to specialize in oncology, and I found it extremely difficult to read about Rana’s experiences with cancer patients. I, too, have become familiar with such struggles but I could not imagine what it must have been like for her and her patients. I am deeply thankful to Rana for giving the story of her and her patients justice, and for letting their stories live on after such horrendous events. Rana practices wonderful literary techniques, but I love how none of these overshadow the messages and feelings that she is trying to get across. I also found this book to be exceptionally edited, as I did not find any errors.

I sincerely appreciate Rana’s honesty and am thankful to her for trusting her readers with such accounts. For her bravery and the reasons above, I rate this book five out of five stars.

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Hold Your Breath
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