BLURB
"Seth Steinzor has written a latter-day version of Dante's Inferno. In this, the first of his three-part transformation of the Divine Comedy, contemporary sinners are treated to contemporary variations on the torments of the original nine circles of hell"
REVIEW
Ola peeps!
Another review from me! How are you all?
I’m trying my best to read as many books as I can before school starts this Monday. I’m kind of excited and not excited. Lol!
Anyway, today’s book I’m reviewing is To Join the Lost by Seth Steinzor. Before anything else, I want to thank Poetic Book Tours for providing me a copy of this book.
This book is a modern day retelling of Dante’s Inferno. You all, peeps, knew what that story is right?
Me too. I know the story of Dante’s Inferno though I haven’t read the original book yet. I know cause we kind of discuss this literature when I was in high school but I was so curious about the story of the book that I decided to buy the book of it if I ever find one. I didn’t really put it on in my TBR list just inside my mental TBR list. So imagine the excitement I felt when I found out that the story of To Join the Lost is a modern retelling of Dante’s Inferno. I was so excited!
What I didn’t expect though is the very deep and very confusing way of its narration. Now don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that this book is a POETIC book. Like it should be narrated that way. The problem is it’s not the kind of narration that I understand so well. When I open the file on my reader I was confused about its physical format. It looked like a poem. It didn’t look like the paragraphs after paragraphs of letters I used to reading. So I had a very hard time reading and understanding the story.
Not to mention there were words that are too old English like thee and stuff. Of all the kinds of book I really do not like books that has those old words. I do not understand them and it keeps me from appreciating the story of the book. I don’t know why but that’s just how it is for me. Still I tried reading it and found myself really struggling. I understand the chapters, like the individual chapters, but not the whole story. Trust me, I tried so hard to understand it. There are times that I could understand it because I already have a background of it but most of the time I feel like I’m just reading letters and not actually understanding them.
I made it at around 53% of the book when I decided that I really can’t understand it no matter how much I tried. And I feel so bad. I was so excited to read this book but because I wasn’t expecting the kind of narration it has I just didn’t get to finish reading it and gave up.
Just so you know, I am not the kind of reader who’s into really really deep poetic books. That is why I hardly read classic books because they are deep and they have those old words I mentioned earlier.
Please don’t hate me with my rating. I only rate this according to my standard. I know for some people the book is amazing but for me sure it may be amazing but I didn’t get to appreciate it because I can’t understand the way it was narrated. The narration isn’t my cup of tea.
I always put honest reviews peeps. There might be times that I review a bias review but those only applies on books of Rick Riordan (I’m a hardcore fan of his books so you can’t blame me :D).
So this is me honestly saying that I didn’t like the book.
Still. Don’t let my review deter your eagerness to read this book. If you are the kind of reader who appreciates deep poetic books then this one is perfect for you. We all have different opinions on the same things.
P.S
I think this is my lowest rate book in my reviews ever.
RATE
About the Author...
Seth Steinzor protested the Vietnam War during his high school years near Buffalo, New York, and his years at Middlebury College, advocated Native American causes after law school, and has made a career as a civil rights attorney, criminal prosecutor, and welfare attorney for the State of Vermont. Throughout he has written poetry. In early 1980s Boston he edited a small literary journal. His first, highly praised book, To Join the Lost, was published in 2010.