Review by Storm+ -- The Immigrant's Lament

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Storm+
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Review by Storm+ -- The Immigrant's Lament

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[Following is a volunteer review of "The Immigrant's Lament" by Mois benarroch.]
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4 out of 4 stars
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In his book The Immigrant’s Lament, Mois Benarroch utilizes poetry in order to tell the stories of both himself and immigrants all over the world. Simultaneously a chronicle of all the good and bad aspects of being an immigrant, Benarroch’s poetry is equal parts entertaining and heart-wrenchingly honest. Throughout the book, he writes not only about himself, but also to and about everyone who has made an impact on his life, including his grandfather, father, friends, and lovers. However, regardless of whether you have an interest in immigration and/or Benarroch’s relationships with his friends and family, the sheer amount of topics covered in these poems means that there is probably something in this book for you.

As a whole, I really enjoyed this book. Even though it was translated from Hebrew into English, there are few, if any, translation errors. Further, the poetry itself is absolutely beautiful, and it is clear that the author poured every bit of his heart and soul into this book. Unlike so many poets, he puts as much effort into each new poem as the ones before it, and every poem is a distinct work of art. In particular, I really enjoyed “The Immigrant’s Lament” (the poem from which the book’s title was derived), “Ups and Downs,” “Come, the Tears Have Fallen,” and “Self Portrait of the Poet in a Family Mirror.” Another thing that I really loved about this book was that, although many of the poems in Benarroch’s book are rather sad, the author makes a point to include a handful of uplifting poems, as well as a few romantic poems. There provides a perfect balance between negative and positive emotions, not because they are equal in terms of the amount of poems dedicated to them, but, rather, because the reader’s access to positive poems lift them out of their negative emotions for at least a few moments before they are made sad again, effectively keeping them from remaining in a wholly negative emotional state while simultaneously providing them with a contrast that makes their sadness even more poignant when it does reappear.

This is by far the best book I’ve read in a long time. In fact, the only thing that I didn’t like about reading The Immigrant’s Lament was the handful of errors sprinkled throughout the book. However, almost all of these errors are super easy errors to make, such as spelling “off” as “of” and spelling “lose” as “loose,” and they don’t really harm the narrative in any way. To be completely frank, I didn’t even catch most of Benarroch’s spelling errors until my second read, so I highly doubt that the average reader would notice or care about them to the point that it disrupts their reading.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, but particularly to readers who enjoy poetry. Other than that, I firmly believe that everyone has something to gain from reading this book. Truly, it’s an amazing read. However, I also would like to point out that people who are sensitive to mentions of violence, rape, and death, as well as people who don’t like explicit language, should probably avoid reading this book, or, at the very least, certain poems.

Despite the presence of a few small errors, I thought this book was exceptionally well-written, and I believe that the quality of the writing more than makes up for the errors. As a result, I’m giving this book 4 out of 4 stars. Although the spelling obviously needs a little work, everything else about this book was absolutely excellent. If you get the chance, you should definitely read Benarroch's work!

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The Immigrant's Lament
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