Review of Hold Your Breath

[Stephen Muthini]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Hold Your Breath" by Rana Bitar.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Hold Your Breath by Rana Bitar is an oncologist’s diary where she reflects on her own experiences during the start of the Corona Virus pandemic, mostly in the form of a poem. These poems are introduced by prose writing, where the author invites the reader to reflect on their priorities by asking the reader to think about where they would want to be if the world was about to end. She then goes on to share her own happy place. Thereafter come the poems, which deal with her experiences and emotions during the pandemic. Some of the motifs found in the poems are hope and hopelessness, pain, suffering, fear, death, nostalgia, resilience, and isolation.

The motifs explored in this book are very relatable to people who lived through the Corona Virus pandemic. There are motifs of hope for a better tomorrow and hopelessness in the face of pain, isolation, suffering, and death. The poems in this book are a reflection of the small thing we took for granted before the pandemic but we greatly missed during the pandemic, such as facial expressions during communication. I especially enjoyed the introduction to the poems where the author guides the reader in asking themselves where they would want to be if the world was about to come to an end. It is a perfect introduction to these poems, many of which shares the gloom, loneliness, pain, and suffering caused as a result of the Corona Virus Pandemic and also help the reader in the post-pandemic period to reflect on their priorities in life. All the poems are well written, easy to understand, relatable to the reader, and interesting to the reader. They are also well-edited and contain only one grammatical error.

There was nothing to dislike about this book. I loved every poem in the book.

I, therefore, rate Hold Your Breath by Rana Bitar 5 out of 5. This rating can be justified by the fact that the poems are very well-developed and interesting to read, and their motifs are very relatable to the reader. They also inspire the reader to live more fully and take advantage of the opportunities in life.

This book is well-suited for teen and adult poetry lovers. The poems are easy to understand and are very relatable to anyone who lived through the pandemic. These poems serve as a reminder that life could be much worse and that one should not take the present for granted.

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Hold Your Breath
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