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A review by amym84
Sea of Strangers by Lang Leav
4.0
Poetry is something that I've just gotten into reading fairly recently, and I credit Lang Leav as the writer who peaked my interested in the art.
In Leav's previous published book of poems [b:The Universe of Us|29431081|The Universe of Us|Lang Leav|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466948266s/29431081.jpg|49695644], I felt like there was this sense of vastness that peppered the poems throughout encompassing, as titled, The Universe above us.
In this new work, I felt like the different poems took spread out more along the horizon and less in the cosmos. Their tone shifting from dark and moody, to light and happy, as the tide shifts back and forth along the coast. In and out. It's a wonderful flow about it, but I enjoyed - what I felt as I read - was the more awe-inspiring tone of it's predecessor.
Sea of Strangers has, as mentioned above, a moodier tone. More reminiscent of Leav's first full-length book [b:Sad Girls|34023590|Sad Girls|Lang Leav|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496162450s/34023590.jpg|47195868], a book that I've started but wasn't able to finish yet.
There's nothing wrong with being more contemplative on the aspects of love lost and / or a pining kind of love where you want to be in that light and happy place, but events decided to turn in another direction. There are many beautiful passages of contemplation on this subject. Maybe there's a reason why the cover is blue and the figure on the front in glancing down. I don't know. But I felt the tonal shift from Leav's previous work and while I appreciated the shift as indicative of the fact that this is a different set of poems. I can't help but long for more places of hope.
Something I did really enjoy this time around, which I don't remember feeling in Universe was the idea of certain passages, mainly the longer more contemplative, feeling as though Lang Leav was reaching through the book and speaking directly to the reader conversationally. It felt very personal.
As always, I loved Lang Leav's penchant for making huge statements in such a small amount of words. Those are typically my favorite poems from her.
While Sea of Strangers didn't have the same impact on me as The Universe of Us, I am a devoted fan, I am committed to reading anything / everything Lang Leav writes.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In Leav's previous published book of poems [b:The Universe of Us|29431081|The Universe of Us|Lang Leav|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466948266s/29431081.jpg|49695644], I felt like there was this sense of vastness that peppered the poems throughout encompassing, as titled, The Universe above us.
In this new work, I felt like the different poems took spread out more along the horizon and less in the cosmos. Their tone shifting from dark and moody, to light and happy, as the tide shifts back and forth along the coast. In and out. It's a wonderful flow about it, but I enjoyed - what I felt as I read - was the more awe-inspiring tone of it's predecessor.
Sea of Strangers has, as mentioned above, a moodier tone. More reminiscent of Leav's first full-length book [b:Sad Girls|34023590|Sad Girls|Lang Leav|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496162450s/34023590.jpg|47195868], a book that I've started but wasn't able to finish yet.
There's nothing wrong with being more contemplative on the aspects of love lost and / or a pining kind of love where you want to be in that light and happy place, but events decided to turn in another direction. There are many beautiful passages of contemplation on this subject. Maybe there's a reason why the cover is blue and the figure on the front in glancing down. I don't know. But I felt the tonal shift from Leav's previous work and while I appreciated the shift as indicative of the fact that this is a different set of poems. I can't help but long for more places of hope.
Something I did really enjoy this time around, which I don't remember feeling in Universe was the idea of certain passages, mainly the longer more contemplative, feeling as though Lang Leav was reaching through the book and speaking directly to the reader conversationally. It felt very personal.
As always, I loved Lang Leav's penchant for making huge statements in such a small amount of words. Those are typically my favorite poems from her.
While Sea of Strangers didn't have the same impact on me as The Universe of Us, I am a devoted fan, I am committed to reading anything / everything Lang Leav writes.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.