Book Review - Twelve O' Eight by Jahanvi Kuppili

My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Published by - Self-published
Genre - Poetry
Publishing year - 2018
Language - English
Pages - 30

My Review - 

I am not a big fan of the poem. I rarely read them. But I must say I like Twelve O' Eight by Jahanvi Kuppili. This is the author's debut book. It is self-published. 

This book is a collection of 16 poems. Each poem has a different style. The writing is flawless. But the book needs proper formatting and a prologue as well. There are a few grammatical errors. Poetry express personal sentiments or feelings. The author conveys her message very well through her poems. 

I really like the poem named Grade-9, I'll be a fool and Game of regrets. I would recommend this to a newbie and all the poetry lovers. I wish Jahanvi a great future and look forward to reading more of her work. 

Game of Regrets - 

All the in-between of conversation

and the nights well past 2,

I play a game, and it goes a little like this.

"If you had a time machine, when would you go back?

A year? Two? Three? or Four?"

Would you go back to when the monsters seemed to be

waiting to come out once the lights turned off?

Or go back to when you got molded to

a perfect manmade generic, hiding a perfect raging storm?

Unravel the mess, trace it back two years early?

Back in the time when you discarded

your favorite sweater and books because of the girls at 

school always had something to say. But you got

 shoved down to the ground by the guys the next day

anyway, making the rest of your resolve disappear.

Would you go back and change that?

To 14? Those careless people with their careless words,

that heckler in the crowd who you thought was your

friend, the small-minded people,

with all their answers even when they weren't right,

slowly burying your voice. Would you go back and hold on to it?

Or back to the time you put your pen down out of

fear, their scathing voices echoing each time you lifted it.

Or back to the time when you could've run away

but tried to be brave, only to get knocked each time.

Would you go back and book it, tell yourself

that this wasn't a battle worth fighting?

Or would you go back to 15? When you wanted

to be understood so much, you became what

they understood of you. Finally, tripping into a limbo.

Would you go back and change everything?

Blurb - 

A poem for someone who never gets tired of some stories, a poem for someone about to start school, a poem for someone who loves dreaming, a poem for someone who’s been in a rut, a poem for someone who didn’t send that letter, a poem for someone chasing a near-impossible dream, a poem for someone who waited, a poem for someone who got over their monsters, a poem for someone who never gave up and a poem for someone who found out it was worth it.

About the author - 

Jahanvi Kuppili was born in Hyderabad, lived in Kampala, Uganda, for about 7 years before moving back to Hyderabad for high school. She is 19, currently studying in the third year at Bennett University in Greater Noida. She got the idea for her book when she was 15 and finished writing last year. It was finally published in July this year (which she was hoping to happen since the book is called twelve o’ eight (12:08), which when you reorganize it becomes 2018 (the year she wanted it to be published). She started writing at a very early age. She loves to take pictures and watch conspiracy theories in her free time.