Book Review : Ivory Gleam

Name: Ivory Gleam
Writer: Dr Priya Dolma Tamang
Publisher: Virgin Leaf Books
Publication date: 22 June 2018
ISBN-10: 9352010469
ISBN-13: 978-9352010462
Pages: 236
Price: Rs.299
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★

Blurb: 

A deluge of poetry and prose, ambiguously honouring the essence of existence from birth onto death, life and loss, self and society, romantic love and pensive longing, melancholy of regret to gratitude in healing, and the struggles of and strength in femininity. A potpourri of musings assembled with a hint of practical spirituality, to be savoured passably as an oracle of hearts to the many answers, whose questions our minds are yet to comprehend. Ivory Gleam is split into three chapters of learning, longing and loving. Each chapter is a journey traversing a different road to the ultimate destination of self-reflection.

"Before you end, remember why you started... It was never between you and them, it was always personal wisdom of the novice, bighearted."

My thoughts: 

Ivory Gleam is a collection of around 200 proses and poems that deal with various aspects of life. The poet does not talk about a dream and or a utopian world where everything is perfect. Instead, she talks about the sweet and bitter realities of life. The book is divided into 3 sections, namely:
✦ Colloquial Delicacy of Learning
✦ Soliloquy of Longing
✦ Chivalry of Loving
In Colloquial Delicacy of Learning, the poet talks about self-esteem, inner beauty, faith and evolution, soul, individuality and the battles within ourselves. She makes us fall in love with not only her style of writing, but also with ourselves and the people around us.
In Soliloquy of Longing, she copes with confidentiality, chaos, deception, despondency and vengeance. This section deals with the bitterness of life when we often find ourselves lost.
In Chivalry of Loving, she desires love, has hopes, wants to regain trust in love, destiny and the promise of togetherness. She wants us to accept whatsoever may have happened in the past and move ahead in life. She suggests that life has much more positivity to offer us, but only when we are ready to accept it.
The poems are short but beautifully written. The proses are meaningful and add intensity to the poems. The poet makes use of various metaphors and rich vocabulary which increases the beauty of the collection. Through 3 different sections, the poet basically gives a deeper insight to various aspects of life. She inspires the readers to let go of the past and accept the life that is waiting for us.

"Perhaps a day will come when the possibility of what we could have been will haunt us more than the demons of unslain reasons that kept holding us back."

Likes:

♥ I am in awe with its simplicity of the book cover. It is extremely elegant yet classy.
♥ The book can be read multiple times and each time, it invokes the same level of positivity and happiness.
♥ Even though the book can be read in single sitting, I preferred devouring it slowly overtime.
♥ The poet makes rich use of vocabulary which adds to the beauty of the proses and poems.
♥ The book is written with masterly finesse. The writing style of the poet is impeccable.

Dislikes:
💔 I feel dividing the book into 3 different sections wasn’t really necessary since all the poems are slightly interconnected anyway.

"Someday, somewhere, someone shall secretly save its soul that somehow selects you to secure its insecure half into whole and you somewhat surrender to the fact that only you can and only you should."

Recommend? 

I definitely do recommend this book to those who love poetry and are looking for something refreshing to read.