Official Review: God's Pen by Harry C. Smith

[Cecilia_L]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "God's Pen" by Harry C. Smith.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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God's Pen is a poetry collection by Harry C. Smith. Smith's fourth book reflects on people, nature, recovery from alcohol and nicotine addiction, and his life experiences as a Christian.

The book is divided into ten sections and includes over 160 poems. The first section, My Testimonies, includes Smith's background being raised in Old Jonesboro in Bessemer, Alabama, joining the Air Force, and his subsequent realization after beginning basic training that he was almost illiterate. Smith shared how he improved his reading and writing skills to become a self-taught writer. He also addressed the personal issues he faced including marriage and divorce, retirement from the military, an accident and DUI, recovery from alcohol and nicotine addiction, and how his relationship with Jesus Christ sustained him and birthed his writing career. Subsequent chapters feature poems reflecting Smith's faith and passion for Christ, encouragement for readers and those who serve at church, and the inspiration he received from various people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, JFK, and Maya Angelou.

After reading the first section of the book where Smith shared his embarrassment about his poor reading and writing skills and his efforts to improve them, I was touched. I was also impressed as the content was well-written. Unfortunately, while I found the subject matter of Smith's poems to be uplifting and inspiring, I was disappointed to find they were rife with errors. To clarify, I'm not referring to the creative liberty that is sometimes evident regarding punctuation in poetry. I'm referring to a large number of misspelled words that would have been prevented with a simple spell check tool. For instance, in the first seventeen poems, there were nine errors. As the book continued, the mistakes became more excessive and careless, including the incorrect spelling of the poem that was inspired by Maya Angelou, which he spelled "Angelo" in the title and throughout the verses.

As much as I appreciated the author's passion, there were far too many errors, as well as some formatting issues. Punctuation was inconsistent; some poems weren't punctuated at all, while others were punctuated poorly. In light of the personal information Smith shared at the beginning of the book, the lack of editorial attention given to his poetry seemed negligent. Regarding the formatting, at the conclusion of Section 10, there is an author page which appears to be the end of the book. While there are no more poems, there are an additional 181 pages that are blank except for large print duplicate titles of poems. Deleting the erroneous titles is such a simple fix that it's hard to understand how it was overlooked. Incidentally, I read the Kindle format, so a promotional PDF isn't to blame.

Due to the copious editorial issues, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I hope the author will have his work edited, as I believe it has potential. I recommend the book to readers who appreciate inspirational testimonies and Christian poetry.

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God's Pen
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[writer808]

Nice reveiw. The book seems interesting and unique.

[kandscreeley]

It definitely sounds like this one could benefit from a professional editor. There are definitely liberties that can be taken with poetry, but this is just excessive. Until that occurs, I think I'll skip this one. Thanks.

[HollandBlue]

Poetry isn't my favorite genre, but it seems like the writer has some good insights.

[Cecilia_L]

It definitely sounds like this one could benefit from a professional editor. There are definitely liberties that can be taken with poetry, but this is just excessive. Until that occurs, I think I'll skip this one. Thanks.

Exactly! Thanks for commenting.

[Cecilia_L]

Nice reveiw. The book seems interesting and unique.

Thanks for your comment.

[Cecilia_L]

Poetry isn't my favorite genre, but it seems like the writer has some good insights.

Thanks for commenting.

[Jackie Holycross]

The content sounds really interesting, but it definitely needed editing.

[Cecilia_L]

The content sounds really interesting, but it definitely needed editing.

Yes! Thank you for your comment.

[kdstrack]

I agree that the author's struggle with alcohol and nicotine addiction would be touching to read. Testimonies like these are helpful to others who are in the same situation. I was disappointed to see your comments about the spelling and punctuation issues. Hope the author corrects these so more people can benefit from these poems. Nice job!

[Kajori Sheryl Paul]

I really like the title. Also, the subject matter seems to be interesting. However, I think I will give this book a pass, as the editing issues seem to be really entensive.

Thank you for the detailed review.

[Cecilia_L]

I agree that the author's struggle with alcohol and nicotine addiction would be touching to read. Testimonies like these are helpful to others who are in the same situation. I was disappointed to see your comments about the spelling and punctuation issues. Hope the author corrects these so more people can benefit from these poems. Nice job!

I agree and hope so, too. Thank you.

[Cecilia_L]

I really like the title. Also, the subject matter seems to be interesting. However, I think I will give this book a pass, as the editing issues seem to be really entensive.

Thank you for the detailed review.

Thanks for your comment.

[Gee-Ruth]

Nice review!
It sounds like an interesting piece, but i can't bring myself to enjoy reading poetry.

[Cecilia_L]

Nice review!
It sounds like an interesting piece, but i can't bring myself to enjoy reading poetry.

I appreciate your comment.