When The World Breaks Open (Relatability & Vulnerability)


    When The World Breaks Open has a very distinct voice that helps convey a multitude of complexities in the author Seema Reza’s life. The voice does this through both prose and poetry that weaves a non-linear recollection of a pivotal time period in Reza’s life.

    The voice is able to create a reliability and credibility with the reader through vulnerability and relatability. Initially, as a reader I was drawn in by her background of where she is from and meeting her husband in Dhaka and the importance of this set up in order to let the poetry from afterword. This part of the intro is important for the reader because it sets up the landscape and creates a relatability with the reader about new love, finding someone and hearing the journey that lead them to where we know as readers it will end up.

    One of the first strong chapters/poems to me was Stones (p.53.) The author breaks into poetic narrative that illustrates that the character/author has a giving personality. The author does this by listing and giving little stories with different people’s lives she’s part of. In this excerpt she starts with the veteran and then one of her co-workers that needs a hug. Through this as a reader I could relate to this and through relation it makes the account of the author ring truthful and credible (although I always wonder if it is possible to create a story completely disconnected from the author’s emotions/thoughts and still relate on a human level? Can you still find relation in a completely absurd and made up story? How does that happen? Is it because to use a human as a medium to tell a story you will always get human influence is some way that still makes stories relatable for other humans?)

    The ending Stones (p.53) drives home the relatability to the reader (me at least) by stating, “...I wonder whether I busy myself with their stories so I can distract myself from the burden of my own.” This line signified to me that the author/character compartmentalizes troubles in her life either in sacrifice to be there for others, to ignore their own or a combination of the both. This is relatable in the fact that I’ve asked myself this before.

    The vulnerability aspect appears through the author’s details about the turmoil and challenges she faces such as: divorce, impact on kids, father passes, teaching and many other things that are tied up within those main aspects. This seems real because when life hits it usually hits quite hard and it made sense for the author/character to have so many things happening in their life at once. The vulnerability is also heightened through the use of poetry and poetic prose through the transitions/chapters in the book.The poetry was the most powerful parts of the book that elevated the emotion and character dynamics because poetry not only served as a large part of the narrative and emotional delivery but also the litany of the character/author.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2017 at 11:27 PM

    I was also most moved by the poems in this book. I didn't really think of it that way as I was reading it, but my favorite, and most emotionally powerfully felt moments, were usually around a poem chapter. The emotions in this book were a center piece and the author is very skilled at bringing us directly to those important and traumatic moments in her life. Every pain and joy she communicated was amplified in her poetry.

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  2. ElmazwritesSeptember 18, 2017 at 8:11 AM

    Elevation. I really like that as a way of describing how the poetry functions. The voice has so much clarity but the poetry drives us to the emotional high points. Hope your hand is fine
    E

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2017 at 7:26 PM

    I like how you describe the first story, Stasis, as setting up the poetry that follows. It is more narrative in form than the majority of the rest of the book. If we see it as somewhat static in form, the rest of the book is a poring forth of what is let loose when equilibrium is tipped. That moment comes at the end of the vignette, when it appears as though Karim may strike Reza's friend. Reza uses this chapter to establish a close, confiding relationship with the reader--of course Karim's actions should serve as a tipping point--so we are more likely to trust her as a guide through the rest of the book, even as the poems explore intense emotional situations which we are only permitted to see through her lens.

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