I received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this collection of poems so very much. As a disclaimer, I have not read much poetry, but it is something I am interested in reading a lot more of. I have not read anything by this author before. This book is described as "meant to remind the wounded that they are, in fact, beautiful in a way society may never comprehend" and it certainly does that.

I bookmarked a little over half of the works in this collection as ones I strongly related to, poems referencing abuse, death, abandonment, betrayal, romantic love, self-love and peace. The overwhelming feeling I had after finishing this work was hope, hope that the world can be a better place, that life can be beautiful, that loss is not always a tragedy, that you will not always be broken. I may not always have interpreted the work the way the author meant, but I found little pieces of myself throughout, and fell in love with the writer's ability to make me feel so profoundly.

This collection is incredibly accessible, without an overwhelming amount of flowery language, metaphor and abstract ideas, the author writes as if putting pen to paper and releasing a stream of consciousness. In so many books of poetry I have been reading lately, I just cannot get a grasp on what the writer means to convey, and I very seldom feel like I can interpret the work accurately. A Beautiful Composition of Broken was a breath of fresh air for someone struggling to break into this genre and unsure what they are looking for.

There are a lot of poems I just could not relate to, but I still found beauty in the work and language used. Perhaps the only pages which jolted me slightly were the ones referencing the writer's critics, those could come across slighty self important and petty at times, outright stating that if you do not enjoy the work then the author is better than you and you are just jealous, which for a book touting the beauty in everyone and the error in treating people unfairly, seems a little hypocritical. While I can understand the anger and frustration at having your work, those very personal pieces of yourself, dismissed or insulted, perhaps the writer should have taken their own advice to rise above. Those are such a small percentage of the entire work though, that I feel like it would be a mistake to not at least pick this book up and experience it for yourself.

I will leave you with the poem I loved the most, which, not surprisingly, is about reading.

read, lover
books stained with the tears
of the reader with the broken heart
books held tight
like lovers in the dark
sometimes all you have are the words
sometimes all that's left
are the books