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A review by kalira
Tales of Whimsy, Verses of Woe by Tim DeRoche, Tim DeRoche
2.0
Neither whimsical nor woeful, I felt. From the very first poem trying for that particular slant of dark for kids that fell . . . flat.
Most of the poems are . . . fine I suppose? Taken on their own account, they might be playful or quirky . . . though they seem to be trying too hard and landing on nothing. There might be an attempt at fanciful storytelling, but it feels flat and either lands far short or trying too hard . . . and still not actually getting anywhere.
A good portion of them felt like playing with words, which would not in itself be a bad thing . . . but when it feels to be playing with words simply to force a twist into simple rhymes, with beats that feel wonky or stressed in odd places . . . less appealing. One poem even has a footnote from the author, explaining-
Most of the poems are . . . fine I suppose? Taken on their own account, they might be playful or quirky . . . though they seem to be trying too hard and landing on nothing. There might be an attempt at fanciful storytelling, but it feels flat and either lands far short or trying too hard . . . and still not actually getting anywhere.
A good portion of them felt like playing with words, which would not in itself be a bad thing . . . but when it feels to be playing with words simply to force a twist into simple rhymes, with beats that feel wonky or stressed in odd places . . . less appealing. One poem even has a footnote from the author, explaining-
Not for naught did I struggle these rhymes to dispense,
But in vain were my efforts to have them make sense.
. . .yes, well. True enough indeed, and for more than that one poem.
As well, for all that supposed attempt to play with language, none of the twists and turns seemed to accomplish much, and there was only one line really stuck with me past turning the page ("I have little to lose, less to gain").
Really, even when they don't abandon sense (silliness and surreality would be fine and fun! even expected, in such a work - but 'sense' as in, the ability to parse at all beyond 'these are certainly words on the page'), and do tell something of a story, however strange or small, they simply feel a little one-dimensional to me.
I found this work suggested as being like Shel Silverstein, and certainly the illustrations are loosely reminiscent, but the words . . . definitely not. Even the cleverest turns of phrase might feel rather lacking when compared in that vein, when they are nothing more than a clever turn of phrase at best . . . and there were few clever turns of phrase in this collection.
I found the most entertaining part of the book the backstory of the Baldersquash Medal provided at the end.