Official Review: Infinity Rhyme by Gregory Sulface

[raikyuu]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Infinity Rhyme" by Gregory Sulface.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Infinity Rhyme is labeled as a “fiction/literature poetry” book that mixes different fictional references, current events, and real-world personalities. The book is described as “Doctor Seuss mixed with Doctor House poetry, creative writing,” focusing on the use of rhymes to bring out the book’s appeal. Based on multiple pop culture references and the author’s imaginative introspection, Gregory Sulface brings us a book of rhymes with an imaginative flow.

The book is more poetry than fiction since it is organized in lines and stanzas. References from TV shows, pop singers, video games, and even anime are meshed together to form a set of words, which attempt to evoke certain images related to the references. The book also contains pictures, which aid the reader in imagining the images.

While reading the book, I find myself reading the lines as if I was rapping. The author’s focus on the multi-syllable patterns of rhymes makes the words in the book flow creatively and musically. I think that the book is better read out loud rather than silently to capture the essence of the rhymes. It helps that the book is also professionally edited since this eliminates the awkwardness in the rhymes due to grammar.

My only problem with the book is that I have no idea what the author is talking about. The stanzas are mostly a collection of words from pop culture references put together without forming any coherent meaning. An example of which includes “Aladdin,\puzzles,\ Galaxian,\ Einstein Rosen Bridge,\ solving, Mission Impossible,\ Gladiator.” (The backslash “\” indicates a new line in a stanza.) The book becomes even harder to understand if one doesn’t get the pop culture reference the author uses. This over-reliance on pop culture references makes the book inaccessible to readers besides the author. Even if the book contains some sort of fictional story, it is still difficult to interpret any meaning based on simply the collection of references. The pictures in the book function merely as decorations; they don’t reveal any hidden meaning behind the poems.

I think that the book is better suited as an audiobook, which the author plans on doing, rather than a printed book. Overall, Infinity Rhyme is an interesting book to recite but a pain to interpret any meaning out of it. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. While I don’t think I can recommend this book to those who are well-versed in poetry, I can still recommend this book to those who are a fan of music and pop culture references.

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Infinity Rhyme
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[Letora]

I don't think is a book for me. Poetry can be hard to interprut even when it is written well, and I think I would give up reading this one. Thank you for your review!

[spencermack]

Even though this book didn't meet your mark it sounds like it could still be a fun read. Awesome review!

[La Cabra]

Oh the concept sounded so intriguing till you said you didn't even know what the author was talking about, lol! I was intrigued enough to sample the book; but I am the living-under-a-rock sort of person who prolly would get only 1 out of every 10 references. Moreover, I can hardly ever understand any poetry (yikes but true) so I think I'll have to pass this one. Thanks for your honest and very well written review!