The foreword, written by the author, H. M. Gooden, is something beautiful, and gives the starting note of what promises to be an emotional literary journey for us readers, and we become sure that, by the end of this same journey we will see aspects of life that we might have ignored or not known to this date.
Before we start though, I want to point out that the writer is, a medic/nurse with decades of experience and that she has written this book to honor lost patients, which is something interesting to read, because it’s not everyday that we read or even hear about the real experiences of medics when it comes to their patients and how they see the whole process, so, this is a very rare type of book.
The book is a collection of short stories and poetry. But these short stories aren’t made up, but tellings of experiences passed on to the reader in a fiction-like manner with H. M. Gooden’s light, soft narrative. As per the poems, you can also feel the softness, the love, the lightness of the mood through the pen of H. M. Gooden. It’s something delightful and emotional. This book is so pure, so full of love that is shown word by word, it’s amazing.
The first story is as beautiful as it is heart-breaking. Something that you would think to be impossible, something that, in the end, we all want it for ourselves, something that we would love to live through with the strength and the purity of honest, real love until the end of our days. Albeit short, it’s something that will make your eyes water because it is so pure.
I cannot express with written words how emotional and amazing this book, Passages, is. It leaves you with a silent, awe of realization of the little things others give us, and the small things they do that many times we don’t even take time to notice. This is more than beautiful.
Stories of the author’s life, and events that marked her, told in a sweet and brief narrative, creating easy-to-picture images and circumstances on these small stories that summarize the spirit, the memories and the intentions of the author while telling them, making them easily relatable.
Humility, love, responsibility and humility are traits that are central to this book, as we can perceive form reading its pages that quickly amount as the book progresses smoothly.
The piece “Becoming Me” that explains the process of H. M. Gooden letting, releasing, acknowledging the writer inside of her once again and letting it out to the world as forms of creations be it by short stories, novellas is something that touches all of those writers that are still to be, that are waiting to be themselves, and tells them, as she told herself that it was time to pay attention to that.
This has some poetic gems that one can only sit and re-read in wonder, as thoughts invade us with each passing rhyme, like this section of the poem:
“How can I put myself fully
in the shoes of another,
when the whole of self
is millions of steps?”
H M Gooden
This is outrageously beautiful and thought provoking. Excellent pieces of poetry and prose await you on this simple and powerful book that teaches bravery, resilience, kindness on the most fragile times of our lives and the lives of others. I’ve never read a book like this before, and I’m glad that H. M. Gooden wrote it, I am glad that this book is on our site and being reviewed, so people can actually be gifted with this present, this precious gem that is the writing of H. M. Gooden.
The perceptions of other people’s emotions and the mental image of the emotions described here are impressive. Through poems, H. M. Gooden can actually create a little story with begging, middle and end. It’s is very impressive even how some of these stories connect and give a flowing state to the book, making it dynamic and shifting, reflecting sometimes light, sometimes shadows, but never enough darkness to overpower the intense glow of love and softness of this book as a whole piece. Excellently done.
The way the author continued to raise awareness over subjects such as death, dementia, time and the suffering of people is something that makes us stop and think hard and long to what are we doing with our lives, how fragile are our bodies and above all, our injustice of not caring more for people, specially elders, in their last moments, and their most delicate phases.
Cancer is also a theme here and H. M. Gooden, can show how terrifying, how impactful it can be, while also spreading healthy doses of the better aspects of life and the silly moments we should enjoy more in our lives. It’s gorgeous and impactful.
As a Doctor, she exposes something unknown to patients. We think that Doctors, Nurses, and the medical staff are cold, hard professionals, but in here she shows the tears she wept, alone and among the company of others, as they lost patients, as they made mistakes and as people died in front of them, she shows the love of caring for the dying and the hard choices they have to make daily. It’s eye opening to see how human doctors and nurses are, and how much their job affects them. It gives me much more respect than I had for them before I read this book that I think everyone should read.
This book, Passages, will make you appreciate and be grateful for the life you have, and make you think twice about your health and lifestyle decisions. This is a must-read for everyone. Amazing all the way.
Pros:
- Excellent narrative
- Very simple yet powerful poems
- A short-story an short poetry style that makes the boo readable and enjoyable all the way
- A powerful emotional tone to the book
- Thought-provoking in every piece
- Heart-warming read, this book is sooo pure and lovely
- Motivational pieces here and there that will make you want to stand for things you believe
- An eye-opening approach to the book, I’ve learned so much about how the medical staff feels and what they have to go through for us
- An educating approach towards death, life and sanity. Very well done
Cons:
- None. This book is perfect.
Scribble's Worth 