A Beautiful Composition of Broken

by R.H. Sin

A Beautiful Composition of Broken is inspired by some of the events expressed artistically by Samantha King in the bestseller Born to Love, Cursed to Feel. It serves as a poetic documentary of the lives of people who have been mistreated, misunderstood, and wrongfully labeled in a way that limits them in this world. The author’s most personal volume yet, A Beautiful Composition of Broken builds a conceptual bridge between r.h. Sin’s earliest work and his series, Planting Gardens in Graves.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Self Help, Mental Health, Feminism, Romance, Adult

482 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2017

Reviews

[Alyssa Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this eARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 *

ALRIGHTY THEN. So I went into this book hoping I would like it, maybe even love it. I had heard some not so great things about the author and how he might not be the greatest person. But separate the author from his work?? Yeah didn't happen. I basically hated this...a lot. Probably 90% of the time I was trying to keep myself from rolling my eyes, vomit, or laugh. This was cheesy y'all. Like not the kind of cheese I like that makes you feel all happy inside. I tried really hard to love this and give it a fair shot, hence why I finished the whole thing. The author just seems so condescending and full of himself. I don't need anyone (especially a man) telling me how I should feel and act. Cheesy love poems aside, he just comes off as a jerk?? And he seems bitter and petty as all get out. Look, I'm sorry if you like his work. It's just not for me AT ALL. All that being said, there were maybe a handful (being generous) of poems that weren't half bad. It also seemed to flow pretty well which was a bonus. But I've frankly read better. MUCH better.

[Glitterbomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. There were some beautiful poems and sentiments in here, and many resonated with me;

loving yourself
will save your soul

and;

she sat in the corner
with her face in a book
hiding from anxiety
trying not to panic

Which is pretty much me in a nutshell.

Then;

There were the self indulgent rants about how readers and critics don't understand how wonderful/ talented/ genius he is. It was really off-putting and ruined the beauty of the other poems.

most of my critics
are only critical of me
because i continue
to move beyond
the limitations
they've set on my craft
and most of the hate
i've received from other writers
is derived from
their inability to achieve
what i've achieved
i am totally accepting
of their defeat
i'm completely content
with winning

and this one where he pretty much states that anyone who doesnt appreciate his work is beneath him;

when you insult my words
you insult my readers
but insulting my art, me
and my supporters
does nothing but keep you
stranded beneath us

I took from this what I could, and as I said before, many pieces did resonate with me, and I found them beautiful and thought provoking.

But;

In saying that, I don't appreciate being brow beaten or made to feel inferior for liking or disliking something. Sin came across as a petulant bully and it really affected my enjoyment of this work. Which sucks because I loved I Hope This Reaches Her in Time.

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This guy needs to get over himself.

Writing lines
like
this
does not make
it poetry.

Claims he makes in this book of "poetry".

1. If you don't like his "poems" it's because you're either unsuccessful, hate your life, and are jealous of him, or it's because you're unable to understand the depths of his amazingness.
" 'weak critique'
i've come to realize that
negative criticism
often arrives from the lips
of someone incapable of accomplishing
the things you can" (147).

and

" 'the mundane.'
i seem to attract hatred
and criticism
from people who are content
with achieving less than me" (more on page 392! And on a lot of other pages.)

No dude. It's that some people just don't think you're that great.

2. If you don't like him or if your life is bad it's because you're incapable of loving as deeply as he can. (A lot of this book was him just talking about how deep he is.)
" 'the slow burning of regret.'
....
you'll feel what i felt
you'll sit with your face
in your hands
and your heart on the floor
because you lost the greatest thing
to ever happen to you
me.... " (318).

WOWWWWWWWW.

3. Everyone but him is shallow.
" 'connect to.'
while others were searching
for WiFi
i was searching
for a soul-connection" (326).

VOMIT.

4. His haters are all wrong and ignorant because he is the best of the best and, while they don't bother him, he still has to write like 50 poems about them sometimes even mentioning them by name!!!
" 'Raymond's literary grave.'
you were never as good
as you pretended to be
something short of what i am
and so you're jealous of me" (more on page 54.)

Ooooooookay. Sure.

Bonus: there's another Raymond poem on page 449!

5. No one has ever, or will ever, love or respect or admire women as much as he does. Honestly, the amount of time he goes on about how much he loves women feels a little...creepy. Fetishy. For an example, turn to nearly any page in the book!

All of this being said, Sin's book wasn't all bad. I mean, yeah, women don't owe men sex anytime men are nice to them (381), women are powerful, and, yes, I did like page 436:
" 'from here to now.'
how do you destroy
the woman
when you were created
in her womb."
But all of that should just be universally recognized common sense. He shouldn't have to act like some deep, evolved man for saying those things.

Oh, and for the record, I don't hate my life. I'm not unsuccessful or bitter or lonely or broken. I just prefer not to read a book where the author spends almost 500 pages talking about how great he is.

[Hirdesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

While some of the poems in here were actually really beautiful, most of these 480 pages were just another variation of "You don't deserve the love I give you and I should give it to myself". It was fine at first, but in the end, this was just waaay too long. It could have easily been cut in half, in my opinion. Plus the glorification of mental illness struck a wrong chord with me as well. I'll try a different author when I feel like poetry again, I think.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say I was a huge lover of poetry until I read this tome. I'm sure it was the hard time I had found myself in when this book found me that really influences my strong love for it. It is of course, like most modern poetry, some very empowering stuff as I find myself in this flesh cage they call a female organism.
It is a lot about relationships, and learning to value yourself, even if the world has shown you that you aren't of value.
It is a book you read as a pick-me-up. It is a book you read when you're looking for wisdom where there is no wisdom to be found. It was probably one of the most healing books I've ever read, and from me, it is worth 100 *'s.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the Taylor Swift of poetry. And that is not a compliment.

Repetitive. Call out prose on the ~haterz~. Nothing revolutionary. No growth displayed. Feminist Lite philosophy with at the same time buying into outdated social ideals. Bleh.

The first half was sort of okay but the second half was just a rehash and honestly. Boring. Maybe if it was written by a female author instead of a male it might have been somewhat interesting but all I could get from this was tortured Nice Guy whose genius is misunderstood and maligned and who is constantly heart broken by empty women while chastising the women who ignore him for men who don't treat them properly. I've heard this story before. I might have lived it at some point.

Admittedly there was some quality lines in there but not really worth the four hundred odd pages. I also really liked the layout, the size and type set of the page is really appealing.

Whoever r.h. sin is, he sounds like he doesn't take constructive criticism well (that's another Taylor Swift call back) when you've got more than five individual pieces dedicated to the ~haterz~ whom while never outshine you in anyway because who are and who do they think they are daring to criticise you! It's just petty and bitter, man. So petty and bitter.

In a word, arrogant.

[Grace Arango · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I ever feel like ugly crying again, I'll just reread this book.

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really do appreciate what Andrews McMeel does for young, fresh poets like this--I gave Rupi Kaur's "Milk and Honey" 5 stars without even really considering it a great work of poetry. What it does for teenage girls is invaluable, it feels so universal, and the fact that the bookstore where I work has sold so many copies to young women makes me hopeful for this movement of self-love.

This book, however, is a bland imitation of that, and I can't for the life of me remember a single word from half an hour of reading this in Barnes & Noble. Maybe in another book of Sin's this is successful, but the badass cover art doesn't even save this from feeling like 3am iPhone notes you wake up and delete.

[Chanel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book on NetGalley. Earlier this year I bought Whiskey, Words, & a Shovel II and was thoroughly disappointed in it. I was hoping this new title would bring redemption for me, but I was mistaken.

As with the previous title, the pieces in this work didn't feel like solid, polished, final-draft works. It felt much more like the beginning ideas that I writer might jot down quickly in a notebook by the bedside at midnight to come back to and develop later. In fact, some pieces are even simply titled with a time and/or date stamp which show this might even be the case.

Many of the pieces, the diction, and all of the themes felt highly repetitive both of each other and of the pieces in the previous title I read. At the same time, though, there seemed a lack of structure in the order of the pieces. I don't mean that the pieces need to form any sort of cohesive narrative, only that I felt it rather jostling to move from poems about heartache into revelations of moving on, to the jump back to heartache and then female empowerment, then a quick jaunt into DJ Khalid style major keys and back the heartache....(etc.). It just felt really all over the place.

Nothing felt new, fresh, deeply explored, or surprising. There were no revelations within the work and rarely did the pieces express anything beyond the words on the page.

I spend a lot of time looking at Indie poetry and went in hoping to like it but was still sorely disappointed by a compendium of written work that felt lacking in poetic style and which left me feeling dissatisfied.

I can see, however, that there may be some readers out there who would find this enjoyable, easy to read (I read it in one sitting right before bed), relatable, and heartfelt. It just wasn't those things for me personally.

[Diana Iozzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A Beautiful Composition of Broken”
Written by R.H. Sin
Review written by Diana Iozzia


“A Beautiful Composition of Broken” was the first book I had decided to read by R.H. Sin. After receiving a set of three from the publisher for reviewing purposes, I began the book and did not want to stop reading. I didn’t. I read the entire book in one night. An hour in the afternoon and then two hours at night. I have not read much of modern poetry, so I was intrigued by his books. He writes mostly about love and heartbreak. Many of his poems also included themes of feminism, personal strength, self-empowerment, and have hints of mental illness, possibly depression or anxiety. I personally enjoyed the poems about love and heartbreak the most, but the other themes were welcome. I liked that many of his poems were full of great metaphors and personification. I think it’s interesting to read poetry where feelings and abstract emotions are personified through other objects or animals. In addition, many of his poems compared love to weather and the elements of nature. Lastly, the very large but hardly filled pages are not great for the environment, but they are very stylistic. I imagine if I was more artistic, I would love to draw in the empty white pages and doodle. This seems like a book that many people take into their own imagination, so I think it would be great if this was wrote in or annotated.

My favorite poems in this book were:

“a love worth keeping.”, page 3.
“at 7:22 p.m., to my love.”, page 9.
* “begin again, again.”, page 27.
“1:25.”, page 40.
“a grave love.”, page 50.
“twenty 2.”, page 58.
“the night is coming.”, page 94.
“Marie.”, page 110.
“i see a lifetime in brown eyes.”, page 159.
“in gardens we wait.”, page 212.
“spring.,” page 343.
“22 minutes until forever.”, page 430.
“more than stars.”, page 445.
“April in New York.,” page 451.

I received a complementary review copy through Andrew McMeels Publishing.

[iana · Rating 3 out of 5]

it lives there.
silence is a home
and it houses everything
i’ll never say

—

this was
okay i liked
that there was
little to none of
the confusing breaks such
as this one

This collection was another one of heartbreak, self-love and feminism all in one package. A new addition to those was the topic of disorders, such as OCD and anxiety. I really wasn't expecting those and it was great that Sin shone a light on them.

Now, the writing is something I'm undecided on. There were rarely poems that I felt were really poetic. Don't get me wrong, they were important poems, relatable and I enjoyed some of them, but it was as if it wasn't poetry. I found a lot of the writing was basic and they didn't really scream poetic to me nor did they stand out much at all. Another thing with the writing: repetitive. I've said this in just about all my R.H. Sin reviews and I'm getting tired of saying it. There was less "they don't deserve you" and "you only need yourself" compared to Planting Gardens in Graves but the same poems, same phrases were there over and over again and it just came across as stodgy.

This collection was really just a mixture of me either really enjoying the poems or downright speed-reading through them just to get it over with.

further from truth.
amazing isn’t it
the way that every lie that gets told
contains just enough truth to seem believable
but not enough truth to be true

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 5 out of 5]

you've been hurt
you've made your mistakes
you've been called out
of your name
you've felt broken
you've fallen down
you've had to pick up the pieces
of your heart and start over
you've been mishandled, neglected
disrespects and you've felt unprotected
all of which has caused you to guard your heart
but you're stronger

look at what you've been through
you're a queen who always gets through
you're a woman who continues to survive

I was so looking forward to this release and I was not let down. I have read all of R.H. Sin's other work and absolutely adored them all. His collections really connect with me and they hold the spot for some of my fav poetry collections ever- along with "I wrote this for you".

I thought this collection was so real for me and just really hit close to home in a lot. I would highly suggest any of his work if you love poetry or if your new to reading poetry. I have over 50+ tabs in this book for my favorite poems and would have done more but ran out of my orange tabs XD

Anyways,
yes. please. read. this.

These collections honestly mean a lot to me. I always enjoy the experience of reading them.

[Amira Zaidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't find words to describe this book. I was going through a period of depression and anxiety and it helped me in so many ways. I got drawn into this sea of books and poetry and I feel so much better now. I have always loved R. H. Sin and I recommend all his books.

[Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?] · Rating 4 out of 5]

break my heart
and you'll find fragments
of all the love letters
i wrote to you
on each shattered piece

[mjraves · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is joining soft thorns by bridgett devoue as my favorite poetry collection ever, this book truly spoke to me

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to start off this review by saying that I am not a picky reader. I'd consider myself very easy to please, especially when it comes to poetry (my profile currently states that I give an average rating of 4.27 stars out of 5, if that tells you anything).So. Here we go.

This, at first, will sound harsh (bear with me), but these poems reminded me of the poetry that I filled notebooks with back in high school. Do not misunderstand- my poetry wasn't half bad. While they were base on an emotion or an experience, my focus was more on the superficial aspects of writing, such as my word choice, the structure, and the rhyming schemes, rather than being truly expressive. So while they technically met the criteria of a poem, the flow felt forced. that was precisely the experience I got with "A Beautiful Composition of Broken".

I HATE to compare one author to another, especially when the subject matter is so personal, but I can't say that Sin's work quite holds a candle to Amanda Lovelace's "The Princess Saves Herself in This One" or Rupi Kaur's "Milk and Honey", which both feature extremely similar themes (if you haven't read them already, I highly suggest that you do so).

I've come across some really great two-liners in my day. However, the shorter the poem is, the more it needs to resonate. A lot of Sin's very brief pieces just didn't drive it home for me. Many of the poems feel less expressive and more like advice you might encounter on an embroidered pillow or a poster in your therapist's office.

All this being said, this collection aptly calls to mind a specific relationship that I'd been in. If not poetically, it still accurately describes how it feels to be bedfellows with a stranger you used to love. If ever there were a time to read through this collection, it would be immediately following the end of a bad relationship.

If you are someone that enjoyed this book, I don't believe that you are unfounded. It simply wasn't for me, especially in comparison to some of my favorites.

[abigail ❥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

R.H. Sin... This was pain.
Your words always seem to slip into my body and constrict my heart by tying a ribbon into a tight knot. But with that, I thank you for making me feel things and understand that I am not alone in these feelings. You have put into words some of my unknowns.

Oh also, three works titled my birthday? THREE! I almost sobbed.

[Sierra · Rating 1 out of 5]

400+ pages of the same thing written in different ways

[Kelly K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a great struggle to finish reading it straight through. It was 400 some poems that sounded like the exact same thing. While I can see this being uplifting for others, it didn't do anything for me.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5/5

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it when I read poetry that hits close to home. This definitely empowered me, gave me hope, and solidified that I always deserve the best out of life and out of love. ❤

[Firyal · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nice read;
" too soon
the flowers dry up
then die without warning "

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m trying to read more poetry this year and I enjoyed this collection. I look forward to more work by this author.

[Chaunceton Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope those who need the inspiration available in these pages find this book. These poems are empowering and enlightening. That said, the author repeats the same verses with slight variations many times, and falls victim to several tropes and cliches throughout. Overall, pretty great work.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've loved Sin's past work and really enjoyed the Whiskey, Words and a Shovel series. This one was...not that. It's an odd combination of life advice, self-help and complaints about heartbreak poorly disguised as poetry. This just didn't work for me. There are several mentions of people that the author feels are simply jealous of his success. Bringing that up once is a turn off, bringing it up several times just seems petty and immature. The little bit of magic that exists throughout Whiskey is missing here and that's unfortunate. If asked, I'd recommend the older works from Sin before this one.


I received a free advanced copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for review.

[Garret Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these poems were short, some made no sense, but there were so many that made me stop on the page and think for a little bit.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm... I am unsure how I feel about this book. I highlighted a lot of lines and even some entire poems. R.H. Sin seems like a wonderful man and I think anyone in his life is probably very lucky to have him around. But as for this poetry book as a whole, I struggled to connect with the majority of it. I feel like a lot of these poems were very... surface level? They are what you would hope someone would say and feel about women and relationships and loving yourself but I didn't often feel that deeper insight or unique expression of those every day thoughts and feelings and that's where this fell short for me. I also think a lot of the poems were repetitive. It might just be this style of writing that doesn't work for me personally. Lots of short 2 line poems that almost felt fake deep but were honestly just basic sentences. I wish this author well and perhaps I will try another of his books in the future because everyone deserves a second chance, but I don't think this is one I would recommend to anyone seeking poetry suggestions.

[Sumaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hva faen leste jeg nå 🤡 Jeg bare starta på dette, fordi jeg ville lese noe kort før jeg skulle legge meg og tenkte ja la meg lese noen av diktene. Endte opp med å lese alle, hva var det jeg leste 🤡 Jeg har en viss forventning hvis noen utgir en diktsamling, dette her var så dårlig. It was so bad I wanted to give you a 0, but That’s not possible so I give you a 1. Det var så dårlig fy faen. For det første bruker forfatteren de samme 2 beskrivelsene på alt sammen. «Women are warrior» ble legit brukt 50 ganger. Hun snakker også om det samme hele tida, det eneste hun gjør er å bytte font 🤡 har aldri lest noe så dårlig fy faen det var så dårlig at det ble komisk. Les: «

potion.

she refused to be anyone’s cup of tea
she was more so the finest glass of whiskey»

Hva er dette for noe 💀💀💀 Bare så dere vet, en tiktoker jeg stoler halvveis på leste denne samlingen og la ut sånn to av diktene og det så ikke så ille ut. Jeg tenkte at dette er perfekt for ramadan, no smut ingen fare. At this point tror jeg at jeg bare skal ha en lesepause under ramadan hvis jeg ender opp med å lese bullshit som dette 😭😭😭

[Beatrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave R. H. Sin a try because many of my students are really into his work. I like that his work has created an interest in poetry for many of my students, who give him a follow on social media. However, this was definitely not for me. There's something about it that didn't sit right with me. I found myself cringing at some of the words that, I think, were supposed to make me feel empowered or something. It felt repetitive and a little all over the place. There were a couple standout poems for me. For example, "i want to live on the pages / of your heart/ i want to find life / in the stories / that make you smile" I like that idea. Like anything, poetry is totally dependent on the reader so maybe this will be your jam.