These poems dove straight down to hell, exposing the ravings of a crazed mind, but a mind still able to put words on paper, to show us her mental state and to take us there, too. Every time I read these poems, every time I open this book and read another poem, my heart beats faster and my palms sweat. I am there alongside the narrator. I, too, am praying for sweet sleep while knowing it will elude me and my dreams will be full of nightmare images. Want to go to hell and back? Then read this book.

Amazing stuff. Don't miss it. ( )

As usual, I received this book through a GoodReads giveaway and also as usual despite that kind consideration I'll gripe candidly below.

Slopjar is a collection of poetry that outlines the descent of the author into much and varied unpleasantness in her life followed by her eventual redemption through the Christian faith.

It first must be noted that I'm not really a fan of poetry. I dabble in it from time to time due only to the acts of mischance as defined by GoodReads' random number generator. Therefore my criteria here are fairly simple. First, does the work evoke some emotional response? On this level, certainly the author is being mightily sincere in her work. She's expressing some very raw and personal emotions and you have to give her credit for that. Unfortunately, despite the inspiration she may have from her own life, the poetry just doesn't work. Her choice of words is sometimes distracting and inappropriate, her endings abrupt and in general the work is just unpolished.

The second criteria is entirely technical and goes to general structure, meter and construction. As stated above, these aspects lack polish as we find free verse that at points resorts to rhyme, repetition of words and just generally inconsistent tone.

In summary, I love that Ms. Jennings is at a happier place in her life and that the poetry she wrote helped her get there and wish her nothing but the best. Sadly, I can't really take that into account when rating the book. Slopjar strikes me as a mediocre poetic offering from an otherwise inspiring and unique person. ( )