A Season of Shooting Stars is a beautiful compilation of 171 poems by Dhaval Rathod. It explores the topics of love, heartbreak, light, universe, etc.
Though I had always loved reading poems, I had never really read a book full of them until this one.
This book is divided into 4 sections: Heart, Universe, God and Life.
- The first section (Heart) consists of 90 poems. They are about love, heartbreak and healing. The poems are deep and captivating. My favorites from this section are – Heart, Lioness, The Earth and the Sun, Precious.
The Earth and the Sun
The Earth
turns her back on the Sun
every night,
and yet
the Sun loves her all the same
the next morning
- The second section (Universe) consists of 26 poems. They are about the universe and its doings. My favorites from this section are – Mutual Admiration, Hymn, Hope.
Hope
Do not lose hope, dear.
Last night,
I heard the stars
talking to one another.
And believe me,
they were all fighting
to take a fall for you
and change your life.
- The third section (God) consists of 11 poems. The poems in this section comforted me with a sense of reassurance and hope. My favorites from this section are – Masterpiece, Full House.
Full House
When you’re playing the right and fair game,
and no-one is there to cheer you up,
when the whole stadium is empty,
remember,
God wants to watch you win,
all alone by Himself,
and therefore,
He has bought the full house.
- The fourth section (Life) consists of 44 poems. The poems in this section are mostly motivational. My favorites from this section are – Do not call it a beast, The Silent Ones, Meant to be, Why we write, Choice, Reactions, The Real me.
The Silent Ones
I saunter around my library,
trying to pick something to read.
Hundreds of book shout,
“Pick me! Pick me!”
But i always take out
the one which is very quiet.
Because when people are silent,
they have a lot to say.
I enjoyed reading this book. The first poem in this book had me captivated and excited to read the rest. There were many poems that put a smile on my face. There were times that I was completely blown away by the author’s clever choice of words.
The author’s metaphorical knowledge and skills amazed me. Sometimes the poems had only a couple of lines but it still delivered a story. That type of skill I think is hard to come across.
A majority of the poems followed the modern “free verse” poetry. It has no rhyme but the words still have a distinct rhythmic quality. The line breaks express the meaning of the poem. While a majority of the poems followed the free verse scheme, there were few poems that followed the standard rhyming scheme.
The author has added his flavor of magic into the book thereby making it an unforgettable read for those who visited its pages. There were also some illustrations to go with the poems which were beautiful. He also touched upon some sensitive topics like how we treat our earth.
The author has paid a tribute to Stephen Hawking by dedicating a poem to him. He has also dedicated a poem to his best friend who had battled leukemia.
A good book is one that creates an impact on the reader. This book definitely tugged my heartstrings. I would definitely recommend this book to those who love a good poem.
I would give this book 4/5 rating.
I would like to thank the author for providing us a review copy. This is my honest review of the book “A Season of Shooting Stars” by Dhaval Rathod.
