Review of The Storyteller's Return

[Rhodahams]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Storyteller's Return" by Opal Palmer Adisa.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Storyteller's Return by Opal Palmer Adisa is an anthology filled with various stories about the home of the persona, Jamaica. The poet uses a creative way of telling her story through poetry to depict what being a woman in society is like. She also, in this work, tells the story of her life at home from childhood to adulthood. She talks about how she left home, and now she longs for home but doesn't know if she should return. Her work is basically asking and answering the question, what really is home?

The poet, in this anthology, in her attempts to define what a true home really is, in her way and from the words of her grandmother, talks about what a woman can do to make her own complete home. Can a home ever be finished? When can a woman finish building her home? She asks that despite how a home is, why is she still nostalgic for home? She shows here the conflict in the persona between her journey leaving home and returning home. She also talks about the lessons she learned at home from her grandmother, her parents, and even her grandfather in his own way. 

The positive aspect I found in this book was the theme of the book. I like the message it portrays and also references to different cultures; for instance, the poet referenced the culture in Jamaica. The book enriched my vocabulary. It also gave me a new perspective on womanhood.

However, I did not like the way the poems were structured. They were confusing to read because of the abnormal spacings between sentences and words; this made it difficult in most of the poems to determine what the poet was trying to say, for instance, the lack of appropriate punctuation when needed. I didn't like the way the poems were structured in general. I know they are poems, but they could have been structured in a way that a reader would understand. I'll tell you honestly that I did not understand half of the poems there because of the way the sentences were structured. And also, as I said before, I like the theme of the anthology as a whole, but I didn't enjoy reading some poems that seemed to lack a definite theme. 

I also found a lot of errors in the book, and I must say that the book was not well edited. I didn't list all of them out because they were mostly about the sentence structures and typos like abnormal spacing in practically the whole book; however, I've listed some of them. I would rate this book 2 out of 4 because the errors affected the flow and rhythm of the poet's story. Also, this book has a lot to be improved on. I recommend the author goes back to the drawing board with this one.

I recommend this book to people who like poetry and folktales. I also think people who are into storytelling will like this too. Also, feminists would enjoy this book.

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The Storyteller's Return
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[Oyedele Tomijane]

I hope writing this book helped Palmer to decide on returning home or not. Lovely review.

[Aisha Yakub]

Lovers of poetry should enjoy reading this. Great review.

[Mmaduabuchi Eze]

I love the thematic content of this book. I can't wait to read it.

[wmeki510]

Lovers of poetry should enjoy reading this. Great review.

Exactly. And I am one of them.

[José Cortez]

The beautiful beach is the first one of the particulars of the book cover to catch my attention. I enjoyed your thorough review. However, I agree with you that errors should not go unnoticed at all.

[Lucy Vera]

This book seems interesting. However I feel there are a lot of negative aspects. Also, the book contains errors, and errors prevent a reader from fully appreciating a book. I think these should be worked on. Great review.

[Tony Official]

A lot of things can inspire a lot of people. I am guessing the poets grandmother inspired her a lot and from what you said about her definition of "home", it looks like this played an important part in bringing this out.