Review of Contemplacion. Thoughts and Poems.

[Christina O Phillips]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Contemplacion. Thoughts and Poems." by Ileana Gonzalez Monserrat.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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ContemplaciÓn Thoughts and Poems is a collection of poetry written by Ileana González Monserrat. It opens with a perfectly fitting quote by GastÓn Baquero which, when loosely translated, says that poetry is a product of leisure and thought. Monserrat then goes on to set the tone further with both an English and a Spanish introduction to why she wrote these poems.

The collection is a good sized one and is over 100 pages long and there is a handy index at the end of the book, listing the titles in alphabetical order. As you can tell by the title, there are poems in Spanish and English, but none of the Spanish poems are translated into English for the readers. The poems’ topics vary covering a range of emotions, the truth, love, and life in general. Some of my favorite poems were “Chaos,” “Amor,” “Camino,” “América Latina,” and “The Pain of a Nation.” All of the poems are free verse and I like Monserrat’s use of line breaks. The poems are emotion-inducing and thought-provoking. I would recommend reading them aloud.

Because poetry is subjective, there is nothing I did not like about the book. I would have preferred a variety of forms used but not all poets like to use forms. I think the one negative thing I would say about this collection is the false expectation of Monserrat’s prologue being presented in both Spanish and English, making me think that the poems would be offered in the same way. This is not a huge problem for the book nor did it take away my enjoyment of it; this is just an observation. Translations are not necessary and I was able to still read the poems and enjoy them just as much without the translations. It even helped me as a reader to put more of myself into the interpretation of the poem, which is something that should happen when one reads poetry.

I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars. Because it is poetry and this style of writing has its own rules, I did not mark any grammatical or punctuation errors. The book is full of beautifully structured thoughts put into verse that I think any reader could enjoy. I would recommend this read for anyone who likes poetry. If you do not know Spanish, you could still enjoy this as there are plenty of poems written in English. The poems would also make a good brief read for someone who is learning Spanish.

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Contemplacion. Thoughts and Poems.
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[Mayur Arjune]

Thoughts and poems are the best combination to read. They have been always insightful. Thank you for this review and being genuine.

[IamJc_Bembo12]

I am keen on reading poetry and this one suits me. I should give this one a go. Thanks for your honest and explicit review!

[Novela book]

Poetry is interesting and this seems so much fun. Great review

[Margi zuu202]

it explores the philosophicalcontex of poem those who like poetic books this is your book