Broda’s collection of poetry displays a wide range of very relatable emotions centering around both the joy and pain that makes up the fabric of love. The collection is broken up into four different phases of the moon: full, waning, eclipse, and waxing. It is very obvious that she delved quite deeply into her own heart and life experience in order to produce these poems. Unfortunately, this collection just did not appeal to me. One of the main issues I had with it was the fact that I completely failed to connect to much of it. There were many times where I was unable to understand her imagery and what she was going for with a poem’s meaning.

Another issue was that I could not understand why certain poems were connected with the name of the section they fell under, or how they related to any of the other poems within that section. Though she made a big point of breaking the collection up into four phases of the moon, I personally could not find any correlation among the poems within each section. I came away not knowing why exactly she had done this, due to the fact that there did not seem to be a specific theme that linked the poems together.

To me, things felt jumbled and unorganized so it was challenging to follow along. This pulled me out of the reading experience and tore away any connection to the words for me. Overall, it is not a poorly written collection by any means. It was just simply not for me and I’m sure many other readers will take away much more than I did. I applaud Broda for writing down such personal details and emotions and putting them out there for others to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.
I gave this a three out of five stars. I enjoyed reading whispers from the moon and I highlighted some lines. None of the poems really stood out to me though. I didn't find that they made me feel a lot of things.
Some lines I liked:
"you can't tame a lion (it will turn on you)"

"the vow I promise to honor the woman in me, even when poison pours from her lips, searing holes of insecurity into her beautiful skin"

"I will water her with light, feed her kindness, kiss her scars, bathe her with love, until do us part"

"evolving into a great warrior I am a fighter, stronger than before molding flesh into metal, becoming my own protector"

Warning: I’m no poetry guru.

Most of the poems, if not all, felt broken. Like they were missing something. The read was quick and quaint. It just felt incomplete. Maybe that is what the author wanted us to feel, maybe I missed the message. Try it out for yourself, this might be the right read for you.

#WhispersFromTheMoon #NetGalley

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.

Can I just start by saying how much I absolutely love this cover ? Like, whole heartedly absolutely adore it. It should win awards. It's perfect.

The title is also incredibly striking, so with the two combined it really wraps up into a perfect little book.

The poems were strong and well suited, offering up so many sharp visuals. You can feel what she's feeling and picture her words so clearly.

Loved.

I had mixed feelings about this. In general, there were a lot of poems that seemed to have very abrupt endings and were confusing, but were very pretty. But about halfway through, she started introducing poems centering around heartbreak, which were both beautiful and emotional. Many of her other poems deal with abusive relationships, healing, and feminism. This was a decent collection of poetry, and there were some parts that I really enjoyed, but at times I felt like I was just reading through poems to see if there would be any really good ones coming up.

Whispers From The Moon is a brief debut collection of confessional poetry written by Lee Broda. Originally from Israel, Broda is the founder of Women Creating Change that supports Middle Eastern women in various forms of the artistic endeavors including film and media.
The first noticeable thing about this slim collection of free verse poetry is the beautiful book cover. Broda has organized the book in four themes relating to the rotation of the moon: full (moon) – waning – eclipse – waxing. Many people believe that human mood and behavior is reflected by the position or light of a full moon.

It can be challenging to portray ones most vulnerable thoughts and feelings on the page, and even more so too inspire others with our words—this is the task of a good poet. In the first part of the book, there is a reflective maternal thread that is a theme of a few poems: “my child” is Broda’s longing for a baby though her womb is empty – “keepsake” – “a picture book of you” – “my women” and another poem of family life – “shabbat” is a reflection of her Jewish family heritage at a family gathering. This, was the strongest most enjoyable part of the book.

The rest of the book is about the loss of her relationship which cycles through various stages of disillusionment, betrayal, deep sadness and grief. After such intensity of emotions, the division of property, returning keys, moving on etc. it would seem there would be a period of acceptance, growth and true healing. However, this stage doesn’t really seem to occur. It is easy to feel sympathetic, yet it shouldn’t be the focus of a poem. In “bewitched” - ”my heart whispers” Broda has learned to listen to her heart and intuition, and I wish the best for her. 3* GOOD. ** With thanks and appreciation to the author via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

This was a quick read, but I found the poems hard to identify with. The cover art is so beautiful though!

A collection of poetry that uses the phases of the moon for its transition pieces. This collection deals with finding love and watching it grow into something more than can be handled. Love, betrayal, loss and moving on.

I got this beautiful poetry book as an ARC. I was head over heels in love with it. Since a while, I´m pretty obsessed with everything moon and star related so this book looked perfect. This would´ve definitely been a cover buy.
Here´s the thing though, I haven´t loved it as much as I hoped.
I discovered modern poetry a while ago. Everyone was talking about Milk and Honey at that time and even though I didn´t enjoy this particular book, I discovered my love for this kind of poetry and am since then looking for other books.

As I said, my expectations for „Whispers from the moon“ were pretty high, maybe that was my fault, to go like that in this book.
It is divided into the four chapters. Full, waining, eclipse and waxing. I like the ides behind that. There is almost no illustration in it, which is rare in this sort of book but doesn´t matter much. I´m very fond of the cover, like I mentioned before, I love the moon.
But here comes the sad part. I haven´t felt anything while reading. I think especially in poetry books this is a major point. I want to feel things. I want to be sad or happy or angry or something between. I take breaks while reading so I can feel everything, slowly one emotion after the other.
But here, there was nothing.
For me, it seemed like I had found an old notebook or diary of a teenage girl I didn´t know. I could not understand the whys and I didn´t care much about her. It seemed like a few sentences from various pages thrown together to make one piece.

So sadly this book wasn’t for me. Of course that doesn’t have to be the case for everybody, it´s very short so you can easily check it out if you are curoius. But for me, there was something missing. Sadly.

A beautiful and heartfelt collection of poetry about love, loss, grief and heartache divided into sections according to the phases of the moon. Deceptively simple, each piece speaks to the reader and is sure to remind them of a moment or emotion from their life. Though short, the pieces are beautifully formed, not a word wasted, each carefully measured and chosen, to give voice to the author's experiences in a way that is almost universal. There is a natural flow from moments of loss and heartbreak to the later works that speak of empowerment and strength. I would recommend this book to fans of Amanda Lovelace or Hollie McNish, or for anyone who wants to branch out into reading poetry but is unsure where to begin.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Beautiful poetry soul touching at points , I really loved this book of poetry they aren’t light and fluffy, if you’re looking for that these poems aren’t for you. This is heart felt emotion and touching nerves emotion, it’s raw and beautiful.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Lee Broda is an Israeli-born poet who writes about love, loss, heartache and some more heartache.
I cannot fathom why but I just could not connect to the poems. They were all–more or less–the same to me. Our lyrical I (always a she) either is very much in love, has just fought with her man or has split up from him. Yes, it's also about healing, but I just could not feel anything after reading the same thing over and over again. Sorry.

2,5 stars because some poems were okay.

"when God appears at the door of your soul,
open it wide,
let her enter,
fill and expand you."

"how did we become strangers,
chasing a fairy tale,
that existed only in our minds,
fantasies that made us blind,
and now all we're able to see
is our fear."

The caliber of writing in this collection is good, about 4-stars worthy, but the thoughts and images didn't infuse the subject matter (falling in love, heartbreak) with enough originality or freshness to keep my interest as much as I'd have liked.

I was quite excited to get into this poetry book, however, it just wasn't for me.
Reading the book didn't really feel like I was reading poem, it was more like the author stuckbrabdombsentences together and hoped for the best.
The book did have promise and potential, I just wasn't the right audience for it.

Absolutely addictive. Lying in bed one evening, I didn't just read this. I felt the words, I experienced the rhythm of the life it described. I felt moved to tears, empowered, in love. All from one page to the next. I wanted to know this woman who bared her soul to me. To comfort her, to be known by her. Absolutely wonderful.

I wasn't a huge fan of Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey and this seems to be in that same vein of self-help, healing poetry that probably isn't for me. That being said though I did like some pieces within the collection especially "Coffee" and "Furniture". And Lee Broda seems like an interesting person with her Israeli ancestry coming out strong, but her interest in astrology and pagan traditions.

I feel like the collection should of ended on a different chapter that was a little more hopeful... The four chapters were named after the phases of the moon: full, waning, eclipse and waxing. Full and waning were happy and hopeful, about falling in love and eclipse was about the break-up and and waxing the recovery. I felt like waxing was mostly about moping around after the break-up and that Broda hadn't quite finished the grieving process, maybe we never do, but I would have liked to have seen her a strong single woman in the end, not half of a whole.

Broda seems like an interesting mass of contradictions, which I totally relate with. In "my child" she expresses a yearning and a preparedness to have a child, but in several of the poems, "textile" for instance she comments on the huge human population, recognizing in a way that she would probably be contributing to overpopulation, but still having that yearning to carry a child.

A couple more critiques, though heterosexual myself, I was annoyed by heteronormative some of the poems were; i.e. in "paper and plastic" the reader is advised to observe the crowded coffee house where she may find the one, either the guy reading a book or the one in skinny jeans. I think 'thirsty' as a euphemism for desire is terrible, I hate how it is use in common parlance today, and it seems to have made it into this collection as well and just confused me when I encountered the word 'thirst' in poems, alluding to its proper usage.

Its an interesting little collection, maybe it would be helpful for someone recovering from heartbreak, but it doesn't end on a high note, which I would have thought a reader with heartache would want...

I really enjoyed reading the poems and how the poems where categorized under the different phases of the moon. Not light hearted poems or a lot of short poems if that is what you want.

I applaud any poet who can so vulnerably and bravely publish their work. Especially when your writings are of a more personal nature. Lee Broda is undoubtedly a passionate person and feels deeply.

However, I did not enjoy this collection of poems. I have heard many compare her work to poets I have truly loved and found a great connection with their words. I couldn't find a connection here and it was difficult to continue reading. I need poetry to leave a lasting impression, an image that profoundly moves me to remember and to share their words with others. This collection is missing something and I can't quite put my finger on what that is for me. It is fair to say that all poetry speaks differently to each reader and this did not speak to me.

I will say great cover!

I found Lee Broda's debut poetry collection to be an enjoyable read to say the least. I enjoyed the raw emotions expressed through meaningful pieces, beautifully capturing the highs and lows of love, heartbreak and healing. I found it very insightful, often referring back to my own experiences and applying them to what I was reading.

I feel slightly disappointed after reading this, because I really loved the idea that the poems (and the relationship they center on) were broken into phases of the moon, and I think it has a truly beautiful cover! The poems themselves did not give me the same excitement. To me, they kind of seemed like first drafts that never got workshopped--they are very confessional without really offering much beyond that. Everything felt predictable. However, I think people getting into poetry or fans of confessional, emotional/relationship poetry in writers like Rupi Kaur will probably enjoy this.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.