Waiting in the Void: For a Moment of Epiphany

by Rima Jbara

Autumn’s choices left her misunderstood and isolated. She walked with oblivion. She found herself talking to only herself. The burden of knowing and seeing too much at a young age defined her stillness.

As I wander my way through the years. Sometimes searching to avoid my mind. Sometimes lost from promises and lies. Sometimes waiting to save me from myself.

The restrictions between my solitude life, my inconsistent creativity and my graphic implementation were no longer visible resulting in the conversations, letters, stories, and poetry you are about to hear.

Rima Jbara’s self-discovery and deconstruction of emotions in her measured evolution led to a bold reinvention of storytelling in an unvarnished manner.

Audible Audio

Published April 4, 2024

Reviews

[Pauline Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waiting in the Void: for a moment of epiphany, is set out like a diary of thoughts, emotions, observations and actions that wrap your mind to a deeper understanding of living, understanding and empathising. With being 57 pages this writing piece of non-fiction is packed with deep, insightful experiences from the authors psyche.
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Do you enjoy poetry? Rima Jbara is known for her prose poetry and she takes us along on a journey of self discovery that I deeply appreciate. Rima's poems are placed at the end of each segment as a conclusion. I love it so much.

This is my favourite poem

You Don’t Know About Me

I walk with God.
That is why I am.
Safe

In a sphere I forged of my own
Where my companions are.
Kindness
Compassion
Generosity
Love
Honesty

Worldly far off from.
Greed
Deceit
Hypocrisy
Betrayal
Envy

Absolutely giving this a five star review/rating, it's a very unique experience of life, grief and everything inbetween and we are left thinking that at some point in time we have gone through these. Yes, our circumstances different, but very similar and we can understand and empathise.

Thanking with gratitude to the author Rima Jbara for her insight and wisdom. I was gifted a copy for an honest review.

[Elroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Book for Warriors:

Sometimes the shortest books need to be read the slowest. Or twice. That’s what I did.

Authors of the confessional genre often invite their readers to go on a treasure hunt or a desert trip. Many readers however, glibly only read the words, tabulate the main themes, assess the narrative style, place the author/ protagonist in a ready-made box and then pat themselves on the back. I took a different route …

What is the void the author boldly proclaims in the title? Why waiting in the void? And is that illusive moment of epiphany, of illumination and sense-making revealed in this book?
Many mystics, gurus and honest seekers know and suggest that true self-enlightenment and self-knowing comes from a place of emptiness. In his intriguing, but difficult, personal project that resulted in “The Red Book”, Carl Jung says “the desert is within you. The desert calls you …” All of us have our deserts. For Jbara is seems her (protagonist’s) desert is called by many names: a wounded soul; a wandering soul; the one fearful disease no one likes to mention; a battle between my nerves; the most dreadful place … is in my head; I drifted from one state to another; fading like a flower; that second alternative child; and a troubled body etc.

Various recollections, memories, poems, musings of past relationships with lovers/ parents, streams of consciousness and short stories are delivered with intense emotional and soulful presence in this book of 10 short chapters. The inner desert and the void are palpable in each section.
Then, like an oasis in a desert, some moments of epiphany and hard self-truths show their faces. For Jbara’s protagonist it appears there are at least two such moments of self-realisation. One is that “most humans are greedy, disloyal and two-faced to one another” coupled with the recognition of what it means to be a “humane human being”. The second ah-ha moment is where the protagonist declares: “my dog is the epiphany I waited for all my entire life”. The dog is given the hallowed title of family and a therapeutic healer.

Each one of us have a desert or a void. Or multiple. Whether we choose to acknowledge and battle these shadows is another matter.

Try and look past the apparent gloom and despair of the void in this book. Many of us grow and see ourselves more clearly from these spaces of emptiness and nothingness. This seem to be the case for Jbara’s protagonist who confidently asserts at the start of the book, “they don’t know the warrior I am”. Maybe that’s the magic; finding life’s meaningful insights when we are at our lowest.

Returning to Carl Jung in The Red Book, I find his words fitting to summarise how to engage with Jbara’s latest offering: “My speech is imperfect. Not because I want to shine with words., but out of the impossibility of finding those words. I speak in images. With nothing else can I express the words from the depths.”

This book is a seeker’s treasure.

[Deep Choudhary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rima Jbara's Waiting in the Void is a hauntingly poetic and deeply introspective exploration of pain, identity, and rebirth. Through a mesmerizing fusion of prose, poetry, and intimate letters, Jbara gives voice to the silent struggles of a young woman seeking meaning amid chronic suffering and emotional isolation.
Written in a fragmented, stream-of-consciousness style, the book captures the rhythm of a mind in motion
-torn between despair and awakening. Each letter, addressed to entities like Pain, Fear, and Sanity, transforms inner conflict into a poignant dialogue, allowing readers to experience emotion in its purest form.
Jbara's language is evocative and cinematic, filled with sensory detail that grounds the abstract in moments of quiet beauty—a walk in the park, the whisper of waves, the gentle loyalty of a dog. These recurring images offer light within the void, symbolizing empathy, endurance, and unconditional love.
Waiting in the Void is more than a literary work—it is a meditation on resilience and the human spirit's capacity to find grace in suffering. Rima Jbara turns silence and vulnerability into art, offering readers not escape, but connection-a momentary epiphany that lingers long after the final page.

[Books Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

📕Title: "Waiting In the Void"

✍️Author: Rima Jbara 😊

📚Review: Waiting in the Void by Rima Jbara is a hauntingly introspective journey into the depths of solitude, emotion, and self-discovery. Through a captivating blend of poetry, reflection, and narrative, Jbara explores the delicate balance between isolation and creativity, capturing the inner dialogue of a soul searching for meaning amid chaos. Autumn, the central figure, becomes a mirror of human fragility—misunderstood, burdened by perception, yet resilient in her pursuit of self-awareness.

Jbara’s prose is lyrical and raw, unfiltered in its honesty and power. Her ability to translate emotional turbulence into evocative imagery makes this work as cathartic as it is thought-provoking. Waiting in the Void is not merely a book—it’s an experience of transformation, a quiet rebellion against silence and conformity.

Profound, poetic, and deeply human, Jbara’s work invites readers to embrace their vulnerabilities and find beauty in the stillness of their own void.