Forget the Words

by Shahd Alshammari, Ghadeer Kareemi (Translator ), Hend Hamed (Editor)

This is a collection of poetry and prose on love, life, lessons learned and unlearned, and the author's random musings. The work is both English and Arabic.

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2016

About the author

Shahd Alshammari is a literature professor and lives with Multiple Sclerosis. She writes about illness, women's bodies, and gender.

Reviews

[Jay The Crippled God · Rating 2 out of 5]

-Wish this wasn't the first book I complete this year.
- I loved the acknowledgement section though I hated how she defended herself against Arabian readers and Critics.
-I hope this doesn't sound really bad, but, " Should I be expecting something like this from a Ph.D in literature?
-The worst thing an Author could get into: is being direct and writing about his personal life if the book wasn't an Autobiography.


Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that Dr. Shahad had some good poems here and there and I wish her the best of luck in her upcoming books.

[November]

[Nadia Alfares · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe that this book was written by a PHD holder.
This book is a joke, the Arabic / English thingy made it worse. Most of the Arabic verses gave my different type of cringes.

[Halima Al wazzan · Rating 2 out of 5]

when I decide to read a poetry or literary book, I expect it to reach my insides. I want to read something that talks to my soul. This book wasn't the one for me. when I read it, the words were talking to my mind and not soul. There was always something missing in the poems. I can feel the potential of the vocabs used but they did not form harmony together, well perhaps for me only. I think the author jumped from one topic to another inside one poem so it lacked consistency to me or maybe because of the missing chain of thoughts between one word to another that made me feel this way.

what I loved and think is a great idea is translating the poems to Arabic. A star to that.

[Isabelle Alnasser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just another tumblr book.

[Nada · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of beautiful well written prose. I loved that the author made her short poems/proses like a topic she'd discuss with a friend over coffee.
That's my first time reading a book that isn't a novel and i'm quite happy about how good it turned out to be!
I always found something new and interesting, full of deep thoughts and emotions in every page i read. Highly Recommended.

[Jood · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a very quick read: I read and finished it as I was preparing to sleep. I have got to say that there were some pieces that I liked, but the rest were just rephrased ideas from previous pieces. Some were repeated, such as the Sun and Moon that were obviously a cliché that every poet/prose writer would describe. I felt that I read that from a Tumblr post. I wished for more variation.

[Shouq ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy any page of it

[Narjes J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In the real world, everything is negotiable. Even the universe negotiates. We can alter our destiny, we can change the ending. We can write a sequel. And who cares about bad reviews? There will be, at least, at the very least, one good review of you. Take that review, frame it. Keep it as a reminder that there is good in the world, and that there are those that still see beauty in you” (p.79)

[Lana Del · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm all into supporting local authors but this book sucks.
It's cheesy and full of cringes. More fit to a 12 years old girl writing her own diary about her school crush.
Stop hyping authors that don't deserve the hype, Kuwait!

[Arwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75/5

[Jood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have got the chance to meet the author recently. Not only the book is the worst thing I've read in years, but the author herself is a new type of arrogant.
And just one point, a lot of PHD holders write books, they don't write "DR." before their names on the cover. This is not a research book so your PHD here doesn't matter as much as your talent.
As for the book, I couldn't find anything new. Most of the words written have been previously shared on different type of websites including tumblr. She tried to copy Rupi Kaur so much but in a more cheesy way. The book is like the unpublished, unedited draft of Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.
I just feel sad how the local books in my country lack of creativity.
And one more thing, if the publishing company which is Dar AlKalemat, forced you to publish / edit / change something that you are not convinced it's right for the book, then go ahead and look for another publishing house. I can't blame the author as much as I can blame the publishing house which is by the way one of the worst publishing houses here.
Good luck in your future books although I do recommend you to keep writing research books only.

[Badarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am honored to be a student of hers last semester. Dr shahad's book is as deep as she is. I don't get other reviews about this book. I believe that Poems and writings are feelings should never be rated, but I give it a 5 out of five .. words doesn't have to be complicated in order to have the book being "wow" and an amazing one. حابه شلون الكتاب سهل ممتنع و بنفس الوقت الكلمات و الجمل تعبيريه و عباره عن انعكاس مشاعر و بنفس الوقت deep

[xotic3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick pick-up book our local library and I feel for the first time very satisfied for getting it because unlike any other book I've read, it's quite unique and different in some sense. The reason being so is probably the mystery of the character being talked about most of the time, like for the first time you think it's her husband, the next it might be her mother, until the very last page, I still did not know who she was talking about, but I really liked the way she frankly expressed herself, her thoughts and her ideas, that was really well done and very satisfying to read. I have to add a point to the having some texts translated that was very nicely made and I enjoyed reading the translated Arabic texts instead of the english ones for some reason, expressing one's thoughts in their mother tongue has always had that lovely sense to it.

As an over all rating, it was worth the time spent reading really, different and enjoyable!

[Aisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Personally, I did not enjoy the Arabic translation and did not feel a connection with the book. Constructively, there were typos and no parallel as some poems were translated and some were not. From the acknowledgements: “Here, I write about emotion in general, the light at the end of the tunnel, strength, perseverance, and the beauty of life, when we choose beauty rather than darkness” - I was disappointed because I was eager to read about these elements and although “emotion in general” is present the rest isn’t as most of the pieces are reminisces. The ideas are good but I wish the execution matched because there were a few emotions that I really understood. I also feel as though the book is one anecdote away from being an autobiography, it’s too personal but not personal enough to see the full puzzle, something feels missing. I’m glad I got to read a book by a local author though & I wish her the best of luck.

[Dareen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly I'm very disappointed, i had high expectations for this book and somehow it all went wrong. The writing is so far acceptable in some pieces i actually liked and some were good at the very start but then it all goes wrong and I can't even understand the whole concept. At a point shes talking about an object but then she starts jumping lines and talking about a who and I'm like " am i missing something here? What does that have to do with this? " actually, I couldn't feel what poetry does to a person, so much for looking everywhere for this book..

[Mashael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this book hoping that it’s gonna change something in me and understanding anything about everything. I mean they’re were some good writings in the beginning but then I don’t know what happened. I felt so confused. It’s not bad but it was weird like I can’t say if it’s poetry or essays or even a dairy! Mostly, it seems like a dairy but idk. All I can say is “it’s one of the weirdest books that I’ve ever read and I didn’t get it at all”

[Nour Jumma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when I read a book I fold the top corner of a page if I find an inspirational quote or want to re-read a certain part. Almost half of the pages of this book are folded. I absolutely love it. And I especially love the shorter poems, the 3 line ones. I also appreciate a lot that its in both Arabic and English. Gives you almost 2 perspectives. Quick read, beautiful journey. 4.5/5.

[Zenab Al-khayat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book and I can call it the book of wonders..

[Amjad Ibrahim · Rating 2 out of 5]

لا جديد كلمات مكرره حتى الاحساس لم يصلني .

[Bashayer awad · Rating 3 out of 5]

ماحبيته بالمره متحسفه ع المبلغ اللي دفعته وكمان صار له مكان ع الرف ع فاضي

[Bisan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Good book to read

[Khalaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always loved her language.

[Farah Mesed · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Just no.

[hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in 2016, now I’m re-reading it again this year because it deserve to be re-read. This is a beautiful written book and you as a writer, this is amazing from you.

Can’t wait for more.

[Norah Al-Tararwah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty in this book lies within the lines not intended for the mind but for the soul to weep over.

[Amna · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a shame to start a year with this book. Too many grammar and punctuation mistakes with bit of cheesiness that make the book almost unreadable.
0/5

[Karma L · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I just read that!
HORRIBLE.

[Fatmah Al-Haila'a · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice

[Lulu]

Maybe wasn't for me.