OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Rhyme of the Ancient Hipster" by David Price.]

This is a review of the collection of poetry entitled, Rhyme of the Ancient Hipster. This book is written by David Price and spans twenty-six pages in my iBooks view. The collection consists of forty-three individual works of poetry and would therefore obviously be classified in the genre of poetry.

The poems that Mr. Price has put together in this collection are quite the hodge-podge of ideas that he crafted into some unique compositions to say the least. Though there were some interesting pieces spread throughout the book, the majority of the poems seemed to be quite disjointed and often did not make much sense. There would be moments of clarity and focus that were often followed up by ramblings of incoherence that made me believe that some of the poems were written while the author was falling asleep.

There is actually quite a lot of vivid imagery interspersed in the poems, but with the lack of cohesion mentioned above, it was very difficult to understand exactly what Mr. Price was trying to say. The message of each poem tended to get lost in the disjointed way that they were presented; almost like random thoughts were simply shoehorned to fit together instead of having a central, concrete idea for the poem.

Another thing that was a problem for me was finding quite a few spelling errors, along with some grammar and punctuation mistakes as well. These made it even more difficult to read most of the poems. There were also poems that just seemed to stop dead, seemingly mid-thought, when you got to the end. There were others that share the same imagery, and even two of them that were almost the same poem word for word. It all just ended up being a big mess to get through.

I have always enjoyed poetry, and though I am no scholar when it comes to it, I can confidently state that this collection by Mr. Price is not one of the better ones out there to enjoy. Though people who enjoy poetry might like to give it a shot to see if their opinion differs from mine, I cannot recommend this book to them or to any other who might dabble in poetry from time to time. Sadly, I have to rate this book a 1 out of 4 stars. I hope that with some work that Mr. Price can pull some of his thoughts together from these poems and create some new, solid poetry. I think he has it in him!

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Rhyme of the Ancient Hipster
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Great review! I hope you will enjoy your next book more.

What a fantastic review! I have no doubt that it is better than the book itself. I like poetry but good poetry (not necessarily excellent, just good).

Thank you very much for the feedback! It is greatly appreciated!

Oh my. I've written some of my best stuff while either high on Ambien or spontaneously awakened at 5:00 in the morning. However, this author probably needs to be wide awake at the pen.

Great review! I know that poetry is subjective like artwork, but you really drew out the ways that this book is inadequate.

Thank you for the feedback! It is always greatly appreciated!

You're welcome! I hope I didn't sound too harsh about the book. There's a school of thought that poetry could be written similarly to artists who throw paint on the canvas randomly and hope for a nice outcome. But I believe that good poetry, like good art, should be worked on and not left to chance. Does that make any sense?

Yes it does, and I agree completely. Like I said in the review, I think that there are some great thoughts in the whole of the poetry, it is just the lack of cohesion in most of the individual ones that caused the issues I had with the work. Maybe that is just me, but that is all I had to go by in doing the review.

Yeah, that makes sense. I read the hassle-free sample, and iI see what you're saying--deep thoughts, yes, but no form. Hm.

Yes! That's exactly what I mean.

Nice review! Hopefully, the next review book will be a more enjoyable read. I find it difficult to review poetry books because the poems are often a window into the author's soul.

Thank you very much! And a very good point too about kind of seeing into their soul. I never really thought of it exactly in that way.

The title and cover are certainly intriguing. Too bad the book doesn't live up to its potential. I enjoyed how clear you were in your criticisms and hopefully the writer takes your feedback into consideration. Great review!

Thank you very much! And I hope he can work some magic on it too!

That was the nicest way I have ever read someone saying "this stunk". Well done!