Em(body)ment of Wonder – book review
Em(body)ment of Wonder by Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat retraces the difficulties life presents and shares with us a series of lessons. The back of the book reads “Life is full of forks in the road… But the heart is salient-a compass pointing not north, but onward,” and I feel it describes the pieces inside perfectly.
As in all my reviews, the pros come first. And the biggest pro? The first page, first poem. I love love loved it!!
This was probably the longest poem in the book. Now I don’t really care for short reads. I know there are lots of micro poetry out there that can pack a punch, but most, in my opinion, fall short. With that said, this book has a mix of medium and short poems, and they sit pretty well.
Each poem reads like an affirmation that you’d wake up and repeat to yourself in the mirror before heading off for your busy day, or like a bit of advice from personal lessons learned on how to handle some of the tough stuff.
The best way I can think of describing it, is a work of R.H Sin, but much much better. His style of writing, though ridiculously short and bland, deals in lessons and giving women a sense of comfort and hope. In the Em(body)ment of Wonder, we get the same thing, it’s just that this time it’s actually written by a woman and doesn’t feel like a cheap money grab. It’s a breath of fresh air!
Tanya reminds us in these simple poems to love ourselves, and to thank our body, mind, and spirit for surviving what its’ been through. She tells us to go slowly and to savor the good moments as if they were leftovers we happily enjoyed the next day.
The only con I have is that I wish there was more experimentation. This was a great read, but it felt lacking in poem diversity. I would love to see Tanya play more with poetic devices, I feel like she could really tell her journey in more depth, and it’d be just as great.
Final rating? Three out of five stars. Wonderful book, definitely recommend if you like short reads that are inspirational. It’s twenty pages of healthy reminders in self-love and self-care, and for alot of us, those reminders are greatly appreciated.
