Reviews

I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy by Daniel Ladinsky, Hafiz

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peytonhhill's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

What a fascinating poetry collection. This was my first time dipping my toe into Sufism, and it was very interesting. This collection of poems also has an interesting forward by the translator and some background information about Hafiz at the end. I found this collection mostly quite easy to understand, and the common message throughout was very clear. What an interesting way to learn about a belief system and time in history I know little about! Despite my distance of time and space from the author, I found his poems to be very accessible and his ideas to be very applicable to my modern context. These poems reminded me to rejoice in life and love!

affyfe's review

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1.0

This was a book I read for my read harder challenge and I didn't like it. I'm not much of a religious person, but I can enjoy uplifting spiritual reading sometimes. This was not that. Nothing about this was of interest to me, it was very God heavy and more about a "him" than anything else. I kept thinking I'd stumble on one poem that would speak to me but none did. Not recommended.

kathrun006's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing

5.0

This poetry is so beautiful it made me want to learn Persian so I could read it in the original language.

kalanadi's review

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

3.5

hindyjoyce's review

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hopeful inspiring reflective

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

11/60 poems were 5 stars for me which is above average for me and poetry. Other poems either didn’t fully resonate with me, wow me, or just confused me but i would definitely reread this!