Book Review – Tainted by the Same Counterfeit by Candice Louisa Daquin

Available at Amazon.

I read this book as a paperback. This is an unsolicited review.

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The Review:

To say Candice Daquin’s poetry is deeply moving is barely scratching the surface to actually reading it. Her words get deep inside the marrow, burrowing in and finding ways to be remembered days down the line. This latest collection of poetry from her is the perfect example of this. I earmarked so many pieces in the book, I don’t have room in this review to share them all.

A few of my favorites were:
“The memory of clothes” which begins ‘Somewhere in a filing room with corrugated cardboard and dried blood, her skirt of 2006 is folded by a uniformed man who isn’t used to folding women’s clothes.’
“The Opal” with ‘how did you come to be? A vowel, a constellation, a rhyme in my mind…’
“We, made of paper” with lines like ‘we made of fog… we made of wrung hands… we made of incomplete stitch…’
“Not of man, not of woman” begins ‘The earth cracked open one ordinary Thursday Thursday’s child walked out she has long to go’ and continues ‘setting out on foot zola budd if she swam oceans in seal fat and ate stones to give her some brevity… once, crossing river she saw herself reflected her skin green like deep forest with shallow scoop, she spoke to silver fish telling them of her beginning in clay too hard for shape…’ oh man I loved that piece
And not to mention a handful of short pieces such as “Loathe” and “Relinquished habits”.

Other pieces which I can’t bear to share a simple line or two because they were so powerful were “Amulet”, “Frenzy”, and “Late bloom”.

I took my time and absorbed each poem one by one, savoring them, not crowding them in my mind. What a privilege to be able to read her words! My heart is tender and pulled. She knows just how to write the words between the lines to evoke such emotion.

My Overall Score:

This book receives 4.5/5 stars from me. Beautiful cover and an excellent length. The poetry itself isn’t lacking. The only dings from me are some spelling errors and some awkward formatting, (which I didn’t expect I’d see from a press like this, as I was under the impression they publish a LOT of authors). It was a hard pill to swallow because such immense and gorgeous poetry deserves respect and a gorgeous printing. To be honest I don’t feel the publisher gave Daquin the beautiful book she deserves. Sadly, that 1/2-star is really from the publisher not doing a great job and not due to the writer.

Regardless, I highly highly recommend this collection of poetry to those who love real poetry and poems to make you swoon and sigh and clutch your heart.

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be a good writer: read.
~tara caribou

A FINAL NOTE ON REVIEWS: it may seem that I am harsh on many writers for their editing, formatting, grammar, punctuation, etc. I do so unapologetically. First, because this is a review not a popularity contest. Second, because honest criticism should help us grow as artists.

The fact of the matter is, these things MATTER. A mathematician must use his tools and use them correctly to be an effective mathematician. A surgeon cannot simply say, “I know I can’t sew the wound closed but at least I could remove the appendix or whatever that thing is called.” Same with writers. We can’t claim to be writers yet refuse to use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. We can’t claim to be a photographer just because we know how to push the button on the camera (or phone). There’s an art to it.

So while I may appreciate the artist as a person and their words, I believe that it does us all a disservice to claim that lower quality editing is okay, whether in word, deed, or omission of criticism. Instead: believe in yourself! Believe in the power of your words! Put the effort into being the very best you can be. Ask for help. Grow and learn.