Skip to content
Words Rhymes & Rhythm

Words Rhymes & Rhythm

Words Rhymes & Rhythm Publishers

Header Advertise
Menu
  • HOME
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR CSR
    • CONTACT US
  • cọ́nscìò
  • FEATURES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • ESSAYS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • WRITING TIPS
  • POETRY
  • FICTION
  • SUBMIT
  • NEWS
    • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
  • PUBLISHING
    • PUBLISHING PACKAGES
    • 7 REASONS WHY
  • DOWNLOAD
  • Home
  • FEATURES
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • I WROTE THIS FOR YOU: “EVERY LINE IS A QUOTE TO BE FRAMED AND HUNG ON THE WALL”
BOOK REVIEWS

I WROTE THIS FOR YOU: “EVERY LINE IS A QUOTE TO BE FRAMED AND HUNG ON THE WALL”

Joseph OmotayoAugust 20, 2017August 3, 2020

Share

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Read Time:4 Minute, 35 Second

TITLE:  I WROTE THIS FOR YOU
AUTHOR: SAMIRA HARUNA SANUSI
GENRE: Poetry/Quotes
NUMBER OF PAGES: 60
PUBLISHER: WORDS RHYMES & RHYTHM PUBLISHERS
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2017
ISBN: 978-978-958-504-5
REVIEWER: JOSEPH OMOTAYO

This book is multi-shades of pains, brokenness, love, heartbreak and redemption all rolled up in one. Samira Haruna Sanusi uses deft artistry to chronicle tender emotions. I Wrote This For You is for the many scars that had healed into reminders and for others that fetters into salvation. This book is multi-dimensional, but above all it is the log book of survival, losses and re-survival.

I Wrote This For You cannot be easily classified. It is not poetry, it is not nonfiction.

You can put it as the blurred line between those two genres. However, if poetry is the compression of poignant thoughts in the way that they hit hard, poetry laces this book in unconventional ways. This book is poetry; this book is sweet prose – it is both all in a single book. This book should be performed someday, I Wrote This For You packs enough meaty-moving punch lines. I Wrote This For You is as performable as it readable on pages. This is beauty.

There are many things going on all at once here. Words are broken into ponderous epigrams that try to understand the human state of mind. The human condition is complex. It is the way Samira Haruna Sanusi demystifies this complexity that marvels. This book begins with the speaker broken, along the line she finds palliative love, she breaks down again, reasserts herself until she finds a relative definitive redemption. It is in this manner one can see this book as a literary chemotherapy for the broken.

ALSO READ:  SAMIRA SANUSI’S ‘I WROTE THIS FOR YOU’ IS A TRUE PATH TO SELF-APPRECIATION, MOTIVATION

The beginning of a good book should really be that place a reader is hooked. More so, it should be a feel of everything the book holds. This one begins well. This opener strikes an interesting curiosity:

My heart woke me crying last night
“How can I help?” I begged
My heart said, “Write the book!”

Life is an interconnected link of antitheses where the arrangement of events does not mostly make sense, but they all come together anyway to make life, life. We meet the speaker in this book at the epicentre of her lowest low, where ending it all is the mercy escape:

“There were times when I wanted to end my life to stop the pain and there were times when I was sure the pain would kill me, without me even choosing death.”

Amidst the many lines reeking of stark resignation, Samira Haruna Sanusi uses words in their wittiest ways to strike at deep reflection. In this book, every line is a quote to be framed and hung on the wall to remind yourself that yeah that’s me, I’ve been there too! This book is for everyone that has ever been down. Everyone has one time or the other in their felt like this. This is why this book is written for many. Jeez! This writer writes from a fount where pain flows easily with words. See here:

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
But that’s not all.
What doesn’t kill you leaves you awake at 2 in the morning, gasping for air…

As you flip fast through Samira’s weighty words, constant punch lines entertain you. These punch lines are intermittent relief coming from the writer’s tensed mood and tone. Glib lines like these ones captivate you:

“I’m a throwback to the time when my heart hurt but my lips still smiled.”
“My whole being is that of a hurricane, held together by relief materials. I will overcome, but first, I’ll need your donations and kindness.”
“Some of the hardest battles you’ll ever fight
Are the ones fought in what was once your heart
And now a war zone”

It is okay to break down and receive help when they come. No help is without motives. So it was stark suicidal when the speaker scorns help because it was condescending. You are in dire need of help, forget who is being messianic or not on your issue. The focus is help. Don’t over-essentialise it.

“I haven’t mastered the art of letting people take care of me because, when you stumble into their open and waiting arms while they pat your hair, remind you this too shall pass, as you finally break down and let it all out, occasionally apologizing for being silly enough to cry, and eventually feeling stupid for crying over something that may or may not matter, the realization hits you, that you have given these comforting hands and shoulders the title for savior.”

And just when you thought love has come to save the speaker, she later scorns it and soon we see her lover leaving her and the wrenching stereotypical heartbreak that follows moves greatly. Onwards, the speaker reasserts herself, depends on herself a bit too much, realises it, and soon offers pieces of advices on appreciating small helps.

I Wrote This For You is for everyone who has been there; that cliff where jumping off to end it all is the only choice of relief.

I like this book.

…

JOSEPH OMOTAYO (@omotayome) is a Nigerian reviewer and blogger. Some of his works are published at criticalliteraturereview.blogspot.com and josephomotayo.blogspot.com.

About Post Author

Joseph Omotayo

@omotayo is a Nigerian reviewer and blogger. Some of his works are published at criticalliteraturereview.blogspot.com and josephomotayo.blogspot.com.
jomotayo01@gmail.com

Related

Tagged I Wrote This For You, Samira Haruna Sanusi

Post navigation

Previous

Previous post:

THE THING WITH INTERPRETERS (an essay by Oludipe Oyin Samuel)

Next

Next post:

EPIDERMIS by Efe Ogufere

Say something about this post Cancel reply

Categories

  • Popular
  • Recent
  • Comments
  • May 27, 2014

    CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: FR. ALBERT JUNGERS POETRY PRIZE (#AJPP2014)

  • November 25, 2012

    CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize 2012

  • November 5, 2012

    WOOING REBECCA [for Rebecca Effiong Okon who hates Poetry]

  • May 9, 2013

    I NEED AN AFRICAN WIFE

  • April 20, 2022

    CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST (APRIL/MAY 2022) – ‘STOP WAR’

  • April 20, 2022

    BPPC: PHILIP CHIJIOKE ABONYI WINS BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022 EDITION

  • February 14, 2022

    CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST (FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022) – ‘LOVE IN VERSE’

  • November 27, 2021

    AKOR AGADA NATHANIEL IS ALBERT JUNGERS POETRY PRIZE (AJPP) 2021 WINNER

  • Ikennaya Nnaka

    TOMORROW BEGINS TODAY (a poem by Olivia Onyekwena)

  • Nola, Maruf Gbadebo

    A DIRGE OF BROKEN THINGS — TOP 20 POEMS OF THE POETIC WEDNESDAYS POETRY CONTEST 2021

  • SALIM YAKUBU AKKO

    CALLIGRAPHY OF DEMONS BY ODU ODE

Recent Posts

  • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST (APRIL/MAY 2022) – ‘STOP WAR’
  • BPPC: PHILIP CHIJIOKE ABONYI WINS BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022 EDITION
  • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST (FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022) – ‘LOVE IN VERSE’
  • AKOR AGADA NATHANIEL IS ALBERT JUNGERS POETRY PRIZE (AJPP) 2021 WINNER
  • #FOW2021— OLOWO QUDUS OPEYEMI, HUSSANI ABDULRAHIM & AKOR AGADA NATHANIEL ON ALBERT JUNGERS PRIZE 2021 SHORTLIST

Recent Comments

  • Ikennaya Nnaka on TOMORROW BEGINS TODAY (a poem by Olivia Onyekwena)
  • Nola, Maruf Gbadebo on A DIRGE OF BROKEN THINGS — TOP 20 POEMS OF THE POETIC WEDNESDAYS POETRY CONTEST 2021
  • SALIM YAKUBU AKKO on CALLIGRAPHY OF DEMONS BY ODU ODE
  • Ayinla Oluwaseun Oluwakorede on CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BRIGITTE POIRSON POETRY CONTEST [AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020] — ‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’
  • Ayomide Abdullahi on DECEMBER BEGINS THE NEW YEAR BY BILLYHADIAT TAOFEEQOH ADEOLA

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Close
Menu
  • HOME
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR CSR
    • CONTACT US
  • cọ́nscìò
  • FEATURES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • ESSAYS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • WRITING TIPS
  • POETRY
  • FICTION
  • SUBMIT
  • NEWS
    • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
  • PUBLISHING
    • PUBLISHING PACKAGES
    • 7 REASONS WHY
  • DOWNLOAD
Social profiles
  • HOME
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR CSR
    • CONTACT US
  • cọ́nscìò
  • FEATURES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • ESSAYS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • WRITING TIPS
  • POETRY
  • FICTION
  • SUBMIT
  • NEWS
    • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
  • PUBLISHING
    • PUBLISHING PACKAGES
    • 7 REASONS WHY
  • DOWNLOAD

Related Post

REVIEW: THE EMMANUELS’ ‘ADULTING IN NIGERIA’ HOLDS YOU BY THE HANDS AND LEADS YOU THROUGH THE NIGERIAN MAZE

16 May 2021

REVIEW: CHIDI IWUOMA’S ‘THE GOLDEN RULE’ IS A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ACHIEVING SALVATION & EXPERIENCING CHRIST

9 May 2021

AN EXCITING THRILLER FILLED WITH TERSE SUSPENSE AND UNFOLDING CURIOSITY: A Review of Kukogho Iruesiri Samson’s Devil’s Pawn

5 May 2021

LISTENING TO THE ARTISTS: A Review of Through the Eyes of a Needle: Art in a Time of Coronavirus

5 May 2021

REVIEW: THE LANGUAGE AND METAPHORS IN NDUBUISI’S ‘TO KILL AN ANGEL’ ARE FRESH AND DOMESTICATED

1 May 2021

REVIEW: CHUKWUDI NWOKPOKU HAS A MASTERY OF LANGUAGE WHICH SURFACES IN MOST OF THE POEMS IN ‘HEARTBEATS’

27 Jan 2021

ABOUT US

Words Rhymes & Rhythm Ltd. (RC 1234112), is a foremost publishing and educational institution that supports and promotes Nigerian writers and writings talents through several initiatives like contests, prizes, and an annual literary festival. Our publishing susbsidiary is AUTHORPEDIA.

CONTRIBUTE

QUICK LINKS

  • CỌ́NSCÌÒ
  • CONTACT US
  • DOWNLOAD E-BOOKS
  • PUBLISHING
  • SUBMIT TO WRR
  • SERVICES
  • HOME
    • ABOUT US
    • OUR CSR
    • CONTACT US
  • cọ́nscìò
  • FEATURES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • ESSAYS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • WRITING TIPS
  • POETRY
  • FICTION
  • SUBMIT
  • NEWS
    • CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
  • PUBLISHING
    • PUBLISHING PACKAGES
    • 7 REASONS WHY
  • DOWNLOAD
Copyright 2012-2021, Words Rhymes Rhythm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
 

Loading Comments...