Review of A Fate Unwound Too Soon

[OB Brian]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Fate Unwound Too Soon" by anna-karen sorensen.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

A Fate Unwound Too Soon by Anna-Karen Sorensen is a collection of poems about love and compassion that premature babes evoke in the hearts of those “fortunate enough to enter the baby’s sphere.” Sorensen, a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), is one of the recipients of such strong emotions. In this book, she shares her experience with anyone willing to listen.

In her opening remarks, the author advises readers to be open-minded to benefit from the richness of poetry. This introduction, which the author calls A Re-weaving of Memories, claims that caring for these little angels takes a toll on the carer’s soul, especially if the infant is lost. To get past this heartache, one needs to acknowledge such an experience and mourn, an event the author calls re-weaving. The read then dives into fifty-seven poems of love, hope, fear, life, and death from the perspective of a caretaker, a mother, or a babe. Each page of this work is a fountain of knowledge (and emotions) you do not want to miss.

The poems are short but very informative, touching the hearts of those who read them. The author uses simple, modern English, making it easier to pass the message across. She adds images of tiny babes in incubators to drive the message home. What I liked most about these poems is their ability to tap into a person’s emotions, bringing the experience in the NICU into the heart of a reader thousands of miles away from the action.

I recommend this read to expectant parents, NICU nurses, lovers of poetry, and anyone who wants to glimpse into the world of twenty-four-week-old babies. I attest to this read’s gripping attribute and richness in the wisdom that will compel one to continue flipping its pages.

That said, I award A Fate Unwound Too Soon four out of four stars. Since I did not see any errors in the anthology, I conclude that it is exceptionally edited, an aspect for which I commend the editorial team. Additionally, it is short─about twenty standard pages─hence one will finish reading it way before they get bored. Some poems have words that begin with an uppercase for, in my opinion, emphatic reasons and thus do not qualify as errors. A Fate Unwound Too Soon is indeed a masterpiece!

******
A Fate Unwound Too Soon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon