Official Review: Life's Elements by Andre Davis Jacobs

[LivreAmour217]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Life's Elements" by Andre Davis Jacobs.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Life's Elements is a book of poetry on myriad of topics, including (but not limited to) faith, love, perseverance, and society at large. The book is divided into four chapters with titles that correspond with the four classical elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. The poems within each chapter tie into their respective elements, albeit in an abstract rather than literal sense.

I chose to review this book because I wanted to read something different from my usual preferences (novels or non-fiction works). To be honest, it's been quite a while since I've picked up a book of poetry, and this book reminded me of what I've been missing.

Poetry is a highly subjective genre, making the task of building a case for whether or not a specific work is "good" or "bad" extremely difficult. The criteria used to gauge the quality of a novel are virtually obsolete in the world of poetry, requiring a reader such as myself (one who does not read poems on a regular basis) to use a more intuitive approach. That being said, I enjoyed reading this book.

Andre Davis uses a very direct approach to writing his poems; there is no guessing over the meaning and no searching for secondary or subliminal messages within. While I realize that many people enjoy abstract poetry, I personally prefer a more straightforward delivery and appreciated that I didn't have to dig too deeply to understand the author's meaning. The raw emotion expressed within was moving and kept me fully engaged, and I read through this book quickly because I simply did not want to put it down.

My favorite aspect of this book is the author's continuously positive attitude. He often gives thanks to God for helping him through his trials and remains hopeful, even when discussing painful issues, such as societal ills or being separated from loved ones. When I began this book, I was feeling down, but the hopeful nature of these poems helped me to reflect upon my feelings and take a more realistic view of my circumstances. In a world where negativity seems to dominate all forms of media, it was nice to read a book with an uplifting message.

I only have a few criticisms of this book. There were a few grammatical errors, mostly having to do with mixing up the words there and their, and there was one line in which the author should have used quotation marks. Additionally, there were quite a few poems without titles. I don't have an issue with this per se, but in some places several untitled poems were printed in succession, and I couldn't always tell if I was reading one really long poem or several shorter ones.

But overall, I really enjoyed reading Life's Elements and rate it 3 out of 4 stars. If the untitled poems hadn't been an issue, I would have given this book four stars. I would recommend Life's Elements to all poetry lovers, and to readers that may not read much poetry, but wish to broaden their horizons.

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Life's Elements
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Like LivreAmour217's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Kappy]

Excellent review! I see no problem in relying on your intuition to gauge the quality of the poetry. I seldom read poetry, either, but if I did, I would seek poems written by someone with a positive attitude.

[LivreAmour217]

Excellent review! I see no problem in relying on your intuition to gauge the quality of the poetry. I seldom read poetry, either, but if I did, I would seek poems written by someone with a positive attitude.

Thank you for your kind words, Kappy! I have to admit that I was nervous about writing this review, since the book was so different from my usual choices. I am more of a concrete thinker, and having to go more on "gut feeling" to review this book was initially daunting!

[Kappy]

There's a great book about relying on your first impressions: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Surprisingly often, overanalyzing leads you astray.

[LivreAmour217]

There's a great book about relying on your first impressions: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Surprisingly often, overanalyzing leads you astray.

Thanks!!! I will check it out!