SCRIPTURIENT REVIEWS | OPEN

❄️ GRIEF IS POWER | VICTORIA ❄️

Reviewed by: CroodsGirl

Book Title: Grief is Power

Author: amaranthinepoetry

Title: 5/5

​The title is simple, yet very unique and symbolic. I was excited to dive into this book after I saw the title, because I finally found something that I could relate to after my older brother's death last year. One look at it and I knew I had found something very different than what people are used to seeing on Wattpad. Overall, a wonderful title that is guaranteed to pull any reader in.

Cover: 5/5

​The cover is equally amazing as the title. With a book like this, we don't need a complicated cover. What we need is something that tells us that even though we may be grieving, the one you've lost is still very much alive, just like the falling leaves of a tree. This was what I picked up while viewing your cover. Just like your title, it's symbolic, and I appreciate that a lot.

Blurb: 7/10

​The blurb is a strong one. The first line of it is especially strong: "An electrifying collection of essays on writing..." A line like this is guaranteed to grab anybody's attention. Like the book's title, "electrifying" is a powerful word.

I do think the blurb is a little short, though, and can benefit from being a little longer. My idea for you is to briefly talk about and promote three of your favorite essays. I did something like this in my collection of old stories, Wait! I Wrote That? when I wrote the summary for it. This is an excerpt from it:

​"Get lost in the world of Claxton, which tells the story of a young merman named Tracey, who must overcome his fear of humans to find his place in society. Fly with Rey on her journey to find Luke Skywalker and save the galaxy from the evil Emperor Palpatine. Discover the legend of the Ghost of Ontario, based off something Victoria learned when she went canoeing in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park."

​What I did here is something I think you should try. Write one or two sentences about a few of your favorite essays that helps promote not only the book, but also you. That will make the blurb longer and a little more intriguing to the eye.

Central Themes: 15/20

​You asked me to focus on the central themes in your story, since it does not contain a normal story plot per say. With that in mind, I switched out Plot in the criteria with Central Themes.

​In a nutshell, your central theme of grief and how people handle it differently is extremely present. Coming from someone who has recently experienced grief herself, I can agree on almost everything you say, especially the anxiety portion of the book. There is a lot of debate about whether or not anxiety should be considered a stage of grief. Personally, I think it should, and I think you do, too. When we experience loss, our mind flies in every direction, which ups our anxiety levels. I had my first panic attacks in the first few months after my brother died, because I felt so vulnerable. I thought about death a lot, which you touched on in your first essay about the girl trapped at sea. It took me a long time to find the joy in life again.

Regardless of your amazing interpretation of grief and loss, there were a few moments where I believe you floated away from the central theme in the section, because you remind us what you talked about in the last section. You don't have to do that. You already gave us a lesson about the sea and how we see it at times.

The easiest thing you can do here is just take out all that extra information that you've already touched on and keep on the section you're working on, if it's about anxiety, anger, etc. I think it would be fun for you to write about each stage of grief. I'm very curious to how you see them. Dedicate a chapter in the book to each stage, and remain on that stage the whole section, without jumping back and forth between what you said before and what you're trying to say then. That will allow the reader to really think about your arguments without anything else getting in your way. This is the only big thing I saw. As a whole, you have such a mature approach to the subject.

Grammar: 15/20

As a whole, your grammar is pretty solid, with only a few fragments and wrongly placed question marks when referring to something through them—such as "right?" in A Drug And A Dream. The question mark is supposed to be outside the quotation marks in this situation ("right"?). It's a rule I just recently learned. There are only a few time when you do this. Overall, you're grammar is very nice, making for a clean and easy read.

Writing Craft: 17/20 

​Writing craft gets confused a lot with writing style. Writing style is not something I judge people by, since we all have our own, but writing craft, because it's what makes a story readable and enjoyable.

Your skills with the writing craft are wonderful, especially with similes and metaphors. You can benefit from a little more description that paints a better picture in your reader's head of what the central theme is in the essay. For example, let's take the first essay, At Sea. We know the character is lost at sea and is most likely nervous, but it doesn't really feel like that. Give us more instances that show us the character's fear, like when you said, "I begin to cry". You can do this through hand motions or more details that showcase what exactly is going on in the character's head. In a book about grief and anxiety, I think a few more anxious-like details will serve you well here.

​Writing craft is not easy to perfect. It takes many years to learn it and learn it well. You already have a good idea of it, but it does not hurt to keep on trying to improve it—through more figurative language and dialogue—setting and character development. Now, in a book like this, not too much character development is necessary, but it wouldn't hurt to explore it a little more, by providing clearer descriptions of who exactly the narrator became when grief challenged them to a duel. If there is one thing grief has in common, it's that it always changes somebody. I would like to see a few more of these changes present in your narrative. Wonderful job with the writer's craft, though! I cannot wait to see just how much more you'll improve!

Overall Enjoyment: 9/10

​As you may see, I judged your book a little bit differently, because of how different it is. I took out a few things and primarily focused on the main elements of the writing craft in essay books. This was a very fun read, because of how much I can relate to it. You definitely have a way with words and philosophy. I could only give you a 9/10 for Overall Enjoyment, though, because of the few times you remind us what you've already told us. However, what I noticed was so minor and is a very easy fix. This is a fantastic book. I'm definitely going to keep reading it and see what other words of wisdom you have for those facing loss and grief.

Total: 73/100