Official Review: Life Expressed in 25 Words or Less

CataclysmicKnight · Post by **CataclysmicKnight** » 06 Jul 2016, 16:58

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Life Expressed in 25 Words or Less" by Jack Cantwell.]

4 out of 4 stars

Share This Review

Despite the fact that I love poetry (my fiancée and I even met on a poetry website!), I'm always nervous about reviewing it. Poetry is such a personal thing and often has hidden meanings or even entirely different meanings depending on the reader. Even with all of that worry I couldn't pass up a collection of poetry that's all 25 words or less (with maybe one or two slip ups)! Self-imposed challenges are a fantastic method for channeling creativity, and it was very successful with the aptly-titled Life Expressed in 25 Words or Less by Jack Cantwell.

Jack calls his 25-word-or-less poems "word pictures," and it's a perfectly fitting name for them. While I couldn't get an accurate count due to my Kindle app crashing from my repeated page flipping, there are at least a good 100 of these word pictures within the book. They're broken into two chapters: one is inspired by his time in Japan where he lived for 5 years, while the other is worldwide and includes all sorts of things. These include news-worthy events, drinking a beer or watching a game, but they're all either surprisingly deep or just plain funny, striking a great balance and making it so much easier to read the whole collection without getting bogged down. In fact, many of the poems are almost more like tiny diary entries of things Jack experienced or saw, but they're often very poetic nonetheless.

I was rather confused at first, however, about the actual names of poems because of the format in which they're presented. The vast majority of the time the poems are presented as: poem, two lines of larger grey text, poem, big gap before the next set. It took a while to figure out that the two lines of grey text are linked to both poems - the top word or phrase goes with the poem preceding it and the bottom is linked to the following poem. Often the two words/phrases come together as one concept, which is really cool and unique!

Along with the great quantity of poems, there's also great quality. Out of the 100ish poems in the book, I'd written down around 20 that I thought were exceptional in their own ways. The rest weren't bad by any means, in fact I derived quite a bit of enjoyment out of nearly all of them, especially once I read the stories behind the poems at the end of the book.

Speaking of stories at the end of the book, Jack has written several explanations and back stories of what inspired many of the poems. Like the poems themselves, a great percentage of them were exceptional and the rest were enjoyable as well. Unfortunately, this leads into my only complaint about the book: the amount of "other stuff" vs poetry. While the back stories came across as enjoyable, they poetry is only about half of the 111 page book. While a casual reader can certainly skip them, and they're not terrible by any means, the foreword, introduction and message from the author take up nearly the first quarter of the book.

Despite the solitary flaw, the book is top-notch. I barely hesitated in giving it the 4 out of 4 stars it deserves, and at worst would give it a 3.8 if I could. It's a collection that even those who don't like poetry can (and should!) get into.

******
Life Expressed in 25 Words or Less
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like CataclysmicKnight's review? Post a comment saying so!

mindyg123 · Post by **mindyg123** » 04 Oct 2016, 09:56

I like the idea of poems called word pictures and having some of them based on his time in Japan intrigues me.

bluemel4 · Post by **bluemel4** » 04 Oct 2016, 10:13

Really thorough and interesting review! I don't usually read poetry because it is so subjective. I really like that the poems were a result of a challenge and the explanation about the meaning in the back.

AA1495 · Post by **AA1495** » 04 Oct 2016, 10:41

Sounds amazing. Glad that you enjoyed the book. Thanks for sharing.

Heidi M Simone · Post by **Heidi M Simone** » 04 Oct 2016, 10:49

Thank you for the great and descriptive review! I'm half-and-half about poetry. Sometimes I love it, sometimes not so much. Although this being a short read with pictures included, I am rather intrigued. I do like how the author has used his experience to create this book of poetry. Maybe I'll give it a read!

Congratulations to the author for receiving such a positive review!

TrishaAnn92 · Post by **TrishaAnn92** » 04 Oct 2016, 11:22

Very descriptive and well written review! While poetry has never been my thing (no matter how hard I try to get into it), it sounds intriguing and I like that the author wrote from his experience. I don't think I will give it a go, but congrats to the author on a positive review and on also being BOTD.

purplepeepleeater · Post by **purplepeepleeater** » 04 Oct 2016, 11:24

I have been getting more and more into poetry, this one sounds very interesting. Thanks for the great review!!

Vermont Reviews · Post by **Vermont Reviews** » 04 Oct 2016, 11:33

This was an excellent review of the book of the day for today. I did enjoy reading the preview. As you have said in your review the preview and written intro for the book took up about 1/4 of the book. Therefore not much of the poetry shows up in the preview. After reading your review I can see that this book was a great choice for book of the day. Congratulations and well written review.
Vermont Reviews

gali · Post by **gali** » 04 Oct 2016, 12:02

Not my cup of tea, but I am glad you enjoyed it. It is cool that although many of the poems are like tiny diary entries, they're still very poetic. Congratulations to the author for the great review!

josefina1110 · Post by **josefina1110** » 04 Oct 2016, 12:15

Thanks for the review. I don't think it is necessary to write something to about as the book Life Expressed, , , si made uo of. But most of the time poems are engrossing to read. Explanations will be a bonus.

Post by **Kourtney Bradley** » 04 Oct 2016, 12:40

"Word pictures." I like that part!
Congrats to the author for receiving such a great rating! And thank you for sharing your review with us!

MandalynnJDG · Post by **MandalynnJDG** » 04 Oct 2016, 12:43

Thanks for the review. I also love poetry and find it fascinating that you met your fiance on a poetry website! I would be leery of review a book of poems too, due to the fact that they can be very personal. I like that you wrote some down...I would never think of doing that!