Customer Reviews

The Handbook of Heartbreak: 101 Poems of Lost Love and Sorrow

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This little treasure can lead you through the gamut of emotions. I keep it on my nightstand, crawling into it when I'm feeling unloved and alone. There's something about the physical book itself -- small, thin, with the poems printed on beautiful deckle-edged paper in an elegant font -- that invites you to pick it up, hold it. The poetry within is mournful, painful, emotional -- a fine accompaniment for a bout of miserable introspection. A wide variety of poets are represented -- from Ben Johnson to Robert Frost, Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath. My personal favorite poem in the collection: Elizabeth Bishop's villanelle that begins "The art of losing isn't hard to master;/ so many things seem filled with the intent/ to be lost that their loss is no disaster. . . ." Despite this, the collection includes a number of very eloquent descriptions of the desperation of losing a love and the disaster of lost love. This is one of my favorite (and most frequently-read) collections of poetry.

Purchased a book from Catrina2005 not for the price but because the proceeds were going towards a worthy cause.
Book arrived SUPERFAST and it was exactly what I wanted!
Thanks so much!

The Handbook of Heartbreak has a wonderful collection of poems. Some very touching and personal ones. I related very well to some of the poetry included in this collection- a very nice piece to read over some free time, but I think it would have been even more wonderful if it had a few more pieces of poetry in it.