Touching. moving, emotional. This was a deep read. It's hard to say I "enjoyed" it since it had moments of being deeply personal to me but it was a good read in that it was able to read that level of emotional. I'd recommend it for sure.

I love poetry, and I was looking forward to reading this, but I confess I really struggled with it. The language felt distancing and I found it hard to connect with. Gorgeous cover though!

Riven is so beautifully written a book to sit quietly with and enjoy.I will be going back to poems in this collection.#netgalley#ecw

I tried to get into this one but honestly couldn't. the poems weren't resonating with me, felt very blah. I had to re-read poems and had a hard time focusing and bringing myself to finish this collection. it just wasn't for me.

“Grief I told you is always, but grieving — more often intermittent. “

Riven is a small collection of poetry by Catherine Owen that explores the process of grief by reflecting on nature.

It was a unique collection, and one that I read slowly because I wanted to take time to reflect on each poem. Many of them packed a lot of emotion and feelings into so few words, and rushing through each one wouldn’t give the writing any justice.

Riven is based on the author’s very personal experience of losing her spouse to a drug addiction. Afterwards, she moved to Vancouver, and spent a lot of time along the Fraser River. Her poems blend reflection on her grief with observations of the river, and its surrounding green space.

While reading, I found some of the poems to be centered more specifically on her individual feelings of loss, sadness, and love, where others focused more specifically on the physical environment around her. There were a few that blended elements of both, and they were beautiful. As I mentioned above, I read only one or two poems a day because I found myself re-reading certain lines and really letting them sink in.

The writing was truly beautiful, and I felt that the comparisons helped me, as a reader, feel the stages of grief and various emotions that the author was reflecting on. Yes, there were moments of sadness, but there were also moments of hope, and reflections on what the future would bring. There was a lot of strength in this collection, too.

I’ve seen a couple negative reviews of Riven, and while I don’t agree with them (I really enjoyed reading this collection), I can understand why it’s not for everyone. The writing is extremely personal, and if you can’t relate to the author’s experience, it may be difficult to understand and appreciate the writing for what it is.

If you’re looking for poems that deal with grief and loss, or poems with a strong environmental connection, I’d recommend this collection.

Thank you to the publisher, ECW Press, for an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley. Riven came out on April 14, 2020, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.

I couldn’t get into this collection of poems at all. It could not hold my interest and I didn’t feel connected to them at all.

Disclaimer - I was sent a free digital copy of this book by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Firstly, I’m not entirely sure if the format of the book has been altered because of the device I’ve accessed it on. But for me the formatting was very off putting and made it more difficult to appreciate what’s written and sometimes follow it.

Otherwise I think there’s a lot of promise in the poetry. I read a lot of poetry and feel like this book could be so much better if the above issue is addressed before publication.

Riven is a collection of poetry by Catherine Owen. I got this copy from NetGalley.

I'll be honest with you, I don't read a lot of poetry but I do know that when I do I'm able to understand it and fall in love with it. That didn't happen here; this just wasn't the collection for me and I couldn't get through it. It didn't start off too badly, I liked Thirty-six sentences but things did not improve from there.

This collection is so beautifully written and so personal, that I could rush through it as I normally would with other books. I needed to digest it in doses, reflect on it. That is the effect Catherine Owen had on me in Riven. I felt her grief and I felt her strength.