#BookReview: Social Climbing and Other Poems by Laura Lyndhurst #poetry #photography by Clive Thompson @bookroar_tweets

Hi everyone. Today I have a book review for you from an author new to me, who I discovered via BookRoar, Laura Lyndhurst. This is a book of poetry inspired by photographs by Clive Thompson. Here’s my review >>>

About the Book:

I had no plans, after publishing Poet-Pourri, to write any more poems; at least not in the near future. But while I was in the prepare-to-publish stage of that book, I made the acquaintance of photographer Clive Thompson and his large archive of photographs, put together over quite a lot of years. Scanning through these on the internet I found the picture of a discarded Father Christmas chocolate-bearing Advent calendar, which immediately said ‘poem material’ to me. I wrote the poem and presented it to Clive, who loved it; and there was born the idea of a collaboration, my poetry written to the prompts of some of his photographs.
The photographs I have used for the pandemic-themed poems were taken quite some time before that ominous word had become a part of all our daily lives, but they seemed to fit the subject and I therefore took the liberty of utilizing them in that way.
The results of my poems joined to Clive’s photographs I present here, as Social Climbing and other poems. It may not be the catchiest of titles but it works for me, and for Clive, and for you also, I hope. Enjoy.

My Review:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A collection of often humorous poems in response to photographs taken by Clive Thompson

This enjoyable collection of image-inspired poetry is humorous and brings the reader people-watching at its best. The author often employs anthropomorphism to get her message across in fun fashion.

The book is split into three broad sections: Life’s a Beach, Poems of Pandemic, and Every Walk of Life. Although each poem stands on its own merit and the collection can be read in any order and the collection dipped in and out of at the reader’s leisure.

Some poems which stood out for me are: The Naked Truth, Cold Comfort, All Inclusive, Social Climbing, Poster Girl, The Codfather, Hanging Out, Shahrazad’s Sisters, Dog Days, Solidarity, and Winning Streak.

Social Climbing contained some wonderful shoe puns such as: ‘…we’ve both gone hell for leather to seek the soles that came before us in the walk of life we’re in.’ And … ‘… flabbergasted at what we’re shoehorned into seeing.’ And … ‘A step up in the world; you could say we’re well heeled.’ A wonderful line from Poster Girl shows propaganda for what it is: ‘”I am free”; three, more like, and barely able to grasp the concepts held at issue here.’

I feel this volume would appeal to lovers of poetry and insightful photography alike. Social Climbing and Other Poems gets a solid five stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08B8BDLW1/

US https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B8BDLW1/

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by 🙂