A Raw & Relevant Look at the Current Global Pandemic – Snails & Elephants

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

I received a copy of Snails & Elephants from the author in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are, of course, my own.

This small poetry chapbook is a quick read, but it’s incredibly raw, powerful, and relevant. Make sure to read this to be inspired and reflect on the little things.

Snails & Elephants Book Review

Title

Snails & Elephants: a chapbook

Author(s)

Nicole Jean Turner is an artist from the Greater Boston area with an affinity for vignettes, napping outdoors, and conversations that confront the human condition. She writes in cursive to hide the butchered spelling that would otherwise raise suspicion about her master’s degree in writing.

Turner has authored two books, With Only Which She Could Carry: a poetry collection (UWA, 2020) and the crowd-funded chapbook, Coffee Stout and Rain Water (2017).

Turner has published individual pieces of writing and art in print, won awards for, and has participated in nationally recognized poetry slams and shows around the country every year since 2012. You can read and subscribe to her poetry at NJTPoetry.com

Publication Date

May 5, 2020

Why I Picked It Up

I was contacted by the author directly and I am so delighted! This was something I really needed to read right now.

Famous First Words

“I learned today a snail should be poked.”

Book Description from Goodreads

Snails & Elephants is a swift and unassuming chapbook of thirty poems written each day of National Poetry Month, from home, unlike most of the author’s other work. The 2020 pandemic inspired many to examine and decide what is important in their life, small and large. In these pages are such universal moments of pause.

My Thoughts & Takeaways

Snails & Elephants is a small chapbook that is incredibly relevant and timely. Written by the author during National Poetry Month amidst the current global pandemic, this small and quick book is a raw and honest view of this new normal we find ourselves in.

READ THIS NEXT Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

Turner inspires a look inwards on the things and moments we often take for granted. This book perfectly expresses what a majority of people are experiencing during COVID-19 and the resulting quarantine. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who couldn’t relate to at least one of the poems in this collection.

I think looking back, this will be an excellent and beautiful reflection on a very hard time.

Favorite Quotes

“Love in 2020 is a strange thing.”

“Today I woke up and for a moment forgot
the world is dying”

“somehow I’ve assumed the role of the guardian
worried where they’re at and when they’ll get home.”

Rating

5/5 stars

Ashley Hubbard

Ashley Hubbard is a blogger and freelance writer based in Nashville, Tennessee focusing on sustainability, travel, books, plants, coffee, veganism, mental health, and more. She has two other websites - wild-hearted.com and odditiesandcuriositiestravel.com