Competent, unique verse, but not enough of it.
Osmani turns to poetry in trying to explain what it’s like to be a Muslim in America during the era of the war on terror.
For starters, the answer to the question posed in Osmani’s title is “no.” But it’s a question that is perhaps asked too frequently in and around Illinois, where the author, a practicing Muslim, lives. Which is why Osmani has put pen to paper—to express his feelings and frustrations as a member of a religious minority who is occasionally persecuted and frequently misunderstood. Thus, in “Profiling a Screen,” he describes the apprehension he feels every time he walks through airport security. In “I Before US,” he voices his frustration at what he perceives to be the overwhelming influence wielded by pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington. And in “Fun, Not Very Funny,” he pithily explains what it’s like to avoid drinking, smoking and gambling around people who do all these things. Other entries stray further from the central theme, among them a verse critique of Dubai’s tallest building, a piece on crowd response to the funeral of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and an unexpected comparison of President Barack Obama to the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Osmani’s poetry is accessible but brief. No poem runs more than one page, and many don’t get past a second stanza. It’s to his credit that he’s able to develop some complex insights in such a restricted space. There’s surprisingly little poetry in this poetry collection, however. Along with each poem, Osmani includes a few paragraphs of prose explaining its meaning and—more strangely—web comments from the poems’ previous existence online. The web comments are by turns distracting, repetitive or totally insubstantial, and they probably have no place here. The presence of the prose descriptions is more understandable but likely unnecessary. T.S. Eliot was often criticized for adding his own explanatory notes to The Waste Land; let the poems speak for themselves, his critics said. Perhaps we might say the same to Osmani.
Competent, unique verse, but not enough of it.Pub Date: June 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481853347
Page Count: 158
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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