wolfshine's review
5.0
Beautiful collection of short poems ranging in subjects from love to drought to heartbreak. The way the author uses various metaphors to shadow loss and sadness is refreshing. Even if you’re not a real big fan of poetry, there are some lines in here that will really grip you. Good read if you’re looking for some deep quotes to ponder.
writeramyshannon's review
5.0
Magnificent
The book intrigued me when the author was nominated for one of my Best Indie Titles of 2017 awards on my author blog, and the author was nice enough to share the story with me for a review. I read Van Leerdam's "Nova" which also is a book of poetry, and I immediately became a fan. I had this book waiting for me, so I jumped right in as soon as I finished "Nova". Now, like "Nova" it has a title poem "The Passing of the Night". The title and the title poem works for this collection. Each poem is an individual poem, and yet, there is a connection, more than the same poet. Beautifully written poems with lyrical prose, but not "sing-song", just magnificence of penning emotions, observations, within her soul. The flame seems to bring a major part to the settings, as it can bring light to darkness, and flicker with brightness and clarity. One of my favorites is "Tainted", as I read it several times. I am sure to read more of her work.
The book intrigued me when the author was nominated for one of my Best Indie Titles of 2017 awards on my author blog, and the author was nice enough to share the story with me for a review. I read Van Leerdam's "Nova" which also is a book of poetry, and I immediately became a fan. I had this book waiting for me, so I jumped right in as soon as I finished "Nova". Now, like "Nova" it has a title poem "The Passing of the Night". The title and the title poem works for this collection. Each poem is an individual poem, and yet, there is a connection, more than the same poet. Beautifully written poems with lyrical prose, but not "sing-song", just magnificence of penning emotions, observations, within her soul. The flame seems to bring a major part to the settings, as it can bring light to darkness, and flicker with brightness and clarity. One of my favorites is "Tainted", as I read it several times. I am sure to read more of her work.
jckang's review
5.0
I picked up a copy of Joanne Van Laeerdam’s The Passing of the Night after reading another one of her poetry collections, Nova. From start to finish, Nova had stirred all kinds of emotions in me with word choices, splendid imagery, rhyme, cadence, and style; and I went into The Passing of the Night expecting the same.
I was actually quite disappointed at first. The same varying rhyming patterns and cadences were still there, but it didn’t evoke the same emotion. It wasn’t until a quarter of the way through, with Stronger, that I felt the same emotion as I did from the very start of Nova. It wasn’t until a few poems later that I really started enjoying the clever word use I’d expected of the author, with Of Cookie, People, and Individuals. Playing on the old cookie cutter adage, it was simply written but still so enjoyable.
From a third of the way through, everything changed for me. Three straight poems-- Hiraeth, Old Man, and Abandoned-- all built on each other thematically, with evocative visuals and the positives and negatives of nostalgia. From here on out, the collection was everything I had come to expect.
I suspect the author had written several during romantically turbulent times. Reality Check, Stronger, Fateful Words, Voodie Doll, En Garde, and One Less Star brilliantly capture the conflict of lost relationships, while Tainted and Lonely Girl express the descent from anger to sadness.
With the same rollercoaster of emotion the rest of the way, the book ends uplifting with Foreverness.
Had I read this collection first, I probably would have rated it 5 stars; however, with Nova setting such a high standard of expectation for the author, The Passing of the Night’s slow start warrants 4.5 stars from me.
I was actually quite disappointed at first. The same varying rhyming patterns and cadences were still there, but it didn’t evoke the same emotion. It wasn’t until a quarter of the way through, with Stronger, that I felt the same emotion as I did from the very start of Nova. It wasn’t until a few poems later that I really started enjoying the clever word use I’d expected of the author, with Of Cookie, People, and Individuals. Playing on the old cookie cutter adage, it was simply written but still so enjoyable.
From a third of the way through, everything changed for me. Three straight poems-- Hiraeth, Old Man, and Abandoned-- all built on each other thematically, with evocative visuals and the positives and negatives of nostalgia. From here on out, the collection was everything I had come to expect.
I suspect the author had written several during romantically turbulent times. Reality Check, Stronger, Fateful Words, Voodie Doll, En Garde, and One Less Star brilliantly capture the conflict of lost relationships, while Tainted and Lonely Girl express the descent from anger to sadness.
With the same rollercoaster of emotion the rest of the way, the book ends uplifting with Foreverness.
Had I read this collection first, I probably would have rated it 5 stars; however, with Nova setting such a high standard of expectation for the author, The Passing of the Night’s slow start warrants 4.5 stars from me.
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