Review of Falling Into Winter
Posted: 06 Jan 2022, 20:05
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Falling Into Winter" by Bill Sasso.]
Do you enjoy unique, thoughtful, well-constructed poetry? Then you’ll want to check out Falling into Winter, a poetry volume written by Bill Sasso and illustrated by Abbie Fowler.
The book is broken into four chapters. I initially thought the chapters would be about the four seasons, but that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t quite sure of the theme of the individual chapters. The overall theme of the book was, clearly, winter.
I found the overall tone of the poems to be hopeful although the author did touch on somber themes such as darkness and death. For instance, "The Glowing Tree" is a rhyming poem about two brothers on a quest to bring home a Christmas tree. They find a wondrous tree that has special magic. They choose not to chop it down. Over the years, they bring their children and then their grandchildren to visit the tree.
Conversely, the poem "Katrina and Krischan" describes a pair of spectral children who are unable to leave the churchyard where their bodies are interred. However, the poem still has a playful quality as the spirited children play tag amid the tombstones.
The poems tended to rhyme although some did not. They were all clearly formatted and polished. There were none that presented as rough around the edges. I had the impression that the author has been writing poetry for quite a while.
While none of the poems are crude or profane, I would recommend the book for mature audiences. Poems such as the cheeky "Dining with Dahmer" would likely not be comprehensible to children and some of the more somber works such as "Summa Purrs", which describes a girl grieving her departed pet cat, might be upsetting to younger readers.
The book appears to have been professionally edited. I could find no errors in the text. The formatting was polished. The illustrations fit well with the poems. I would have enjoyed the inclusion of an author biography but putting one in is up to the personal preference of the author and I respect that.
I recommend this book to readers who appreciate polished poetry with a definable pattern that tells a story as opposed to a rougher, free-verse style focusing primarily on emotion. This would be an excellent book for poetry and creative writing teachers to include in their curriculum.
There was nothing about Falling into Winter that I disliked. I’m pleased to recommend the book and give it four out of four stars.
******
Falling Into Winter
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Do you enjoy unique, thoughtful, well-constructed poetry? Then you’ll want to check out Falling into Winter, a poetry volume written by Bill Sasso and illustrated by Abbie Fowler.
The book is broken into four chapters. I initially thought the chapters would be about the four seasons, but that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t quite sure of the theme of the individual chapters. The overall theme of the book was, clearly, winter.
I found the overall tone of the poems to be hopeful although the author did touch on somber themes such as darkness and death. For instance, "The Glowing Tree" is a rhyming poem about two brothers on a quest to bring home a Christmas tree. They find a wondrous tree that has special magic. They choose not to chop it down. Over the years, they bring their children and then their grandchildren to visit the tree.
Conversely, the poem "Katrina and Krischan" describes a pair of spectral children who are unable to leave the churchyard where their bodies are interred. However, the poem still has a playful quality as the spirited children play tag amid the tombstones.
The poems tended to rhyme although some did not. They were all clearly formatted and polished. There were none that presented as rough around the edges. I had the impression that the author has been writing poetry for quite a while.
While none of the poems are crude or profane, I would recommend the book for mature audiences. Poems such as the cheeky "Dining with Dahmer" would likely not be comprehensible to children and some of the more somber works such as "Summa Purrs", which describes a girl grieving her departed pet cat, might be upsetting to younger readers.
The book appears to have been professionally edited. I could find no errors in the text. The formatting was polished. The illustrations fit well with the poems. I would have enjoyed the inclusion of an author biography but putting one in is up to the personal preference of the author and I respect that.
I recommend this book to readers who appreciate polished poetry with a definable pattern that tells a story as opposed to a rougher, free-verse style focusing primarily on emotion. This would be an excellent book for poetry and creative writing teachers to include in their curriculum.
There was nothing about Falling into Winter that I disliked. I’m pleased to recommend the book and give it four out of four stars.
******
Falling Into Winter
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
. I love poetry