Customer Reviews

The Astonished Universe (English and French Edition)

5 star:		(18)
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What a wonderfully magical and enlightening series of poems! The Author provides for a variety of emotion; excitement, sorrow, joy and wonder.....exactly as we search for these words in life itself. A nice book to reflect upon long after being read for the first time. I also gave copies as gifts and were very well received. A must!

Take a magical journey with Helene and allow her poems to lift you into the upper realms. Transformational and dreamy, yet her words can bring us home...to ourselves.

Hélène Cardona's poems transport us to the realm of myth and spirit, where nothing is tangible yet everything is essential. In French or English, her words speak to our soul.

This is a remarkable book of poetry. I am absolutely delighted and I highly recommend this magical read.

Beautiful, charming, electric--a life force. If you're not lucky enough to have Helene in your life in person, you can experience her, and her contageous astonishment, through her poetry.
Sheran James

I LOVED this gem of a book! I especially liked the chapter Life in Suspension as I identified with the fleeting and random memories from my own childhood that came floating up as I was reading...
there is a unique 'sound' to each poem - clear and strong, but with a delicate, fragile echo.

Helene Cardona takes you on a wonderous journey with her poetry that is beautifully written in both English and French. This is a "must have" that reaches the depths of your soul.

"The Astonished Universe" truly took me to a higher ground when reading it OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

It is thought provoking and sweet at the same time. It begs you to read out loud. It warms your heart and soul and then asks you questions. It is pretty and sad at the same time.

In a time, when, people are unhappy and do not know why, somebody, has taken the time to reflect for all of us and create a meaningful and careful piece of art that can truly change your mood and offer a real gift to those of us who truly live.

An astonishing accomplishement of a French English translation: intense, thought provoking, mystic, deeply felt and yet light. Intersperced with personal experiences. A real feast for the modern soul.

Christine von Wrangel, Mediator

Helene's luminous poetry carries readers into the world of dreams,
where animals bear mythic surprises and the rhythm of the rain
reveals the hidden language of the universe.

My favorite piece is Life in Suspension (La Vie Suspendue),
a long, soulful poem.
I was in awe traveling with Helene Cardona to all the amazing places
she's been.

I think two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wilbur put it best
when he said "the poems of The Astonished Universe were first
conceived in English, then rendered into French.
Yet for such a many-languaged mind as hers, the 'translations'
must have been there from the beginning.
It seems, in any case, that each poem fully exists in two tongues
at once, and this adds to the book's great charm and visionary quality."

For a real treat, google her and listen to her read one of her poems
in French. It's a truly astonishing experience.

John M. FitzGerald, author of Spring Water