Book: Tides of Being

Author: Tanvi Agarwal

Genre: Poetry

Format: eBook and Paperback

Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing

Pages: 121

My Rating: 3.9/5 *

About the Book:

‘Tides of Being’ is a poetry collection of 100 short poems. The poems are themed on self-reflection, introspection, and contemplation. The poet has written these poems based on her own introspective journey on a quest to explore human psychology and life’s different aspects. Each poem is an answer to the question asked as the title of the poem. The poems offer you a chance to ask yourself those questions and inspire you to find the answer on your own.

Author Bio:

Tanvi Agarwal is a Senior Product Engineer by profession and an enthusiastic author driven by passion. She loves reading books, writing poems, motivational quotes, thought-provoking blogs, short stories, and book reviews, and runs a podcast show by the name Pages & Beyond on Spotify & Apple Podcast. She has been a part of four anthologies and the author of three books Surrounding Thoughts (Poetry), Unveil Life’s Secret (non-fiction), and Spilled It Again (Poetry). Check her blog here.

Book Cover:

The author and the illustrator wanted to convey the inner message of this poetry collection through the illustration of a person going deep in the book cover. In that sense, the illustration is partially justified as the poems are written with an aim to take you on an introspective journey, designing a person going deep into the water is a nice depiction. Here, the river water symbolizes our heart or mind or soul, and thus, delving deep into the thoughts makes you ponder upon your purpose of being.

But I felt the book cover has a tinge of confusing message. Most importantly, I have depressing vibes whenever I look at the cover.

However, the background color of the book cover is decent. It is a nice color for a calming poetry book. I wish the illustration had been designed with brighter or more attractive elements that spread optimism and share positive vibes.

Writing Style:

The writing style of the book is simple. Thus, it enhances the reading experience and also helps in understanding the meaning and the message conveyed through the poem easily.

Structure of the Book:

The book is divided into three parts, each of them dedicated to a specific theme. The poet has segmentalized the collection of 100 poems into three themes: Virtues of Life, You & Chaos, and Seeking Solace.

What I Loved the Most:

The best thing about this book is it inspires you to pause life’s continuous race of achieving the next milestone, and insists you to ponder upon the question asked.

As a reader, I too asked myself the questions and tried to get my version of the answer.

Therefore, the best way to utilize this collection of poems is to bring out your journal, sit with a pen, and ask yourself the questions (for this purpose, you can randomly choose any question or you can choose it in the same order given in the book), and introspect yourself for some moments. Then, write down your answer in your journal. It will be a mindful writing exercise for you.

My suggestion to get the best outcome of this process is to choose one question at a time and write down the answer you get from your inner self.

A Glimpse of the Book:

Among the poems, a few caught my attention to pause and dig deeper into my psyche. Such a poem is where the poet asks the reader “Do You Let Yourself Heal?”

This is such a profound question to ask ourselves. As a well-being researcher, I have witnessed, many times, I didn’t allow myself to heal for some unknown reason. When you think about it deeply, you will realize that you don’t let yourself heal, perhaps, you are afraid of the process or you can’t devote yourself completely to the healing process or maybe, you want to stay in the pain for some more time, and thus, you need more time to let yourself heal.

Another poem that I liked is where the poet has asked “Does Your Plan Diverge?” It resonates with the life’s path that I have traveled so far. All my plans were shattered at a point and I witnessed life taking its own shape without any plans predetermined. Those who have experienced it know the magical feeling about it.

Questions that made me ponder:

1. Did you find where you belong?
2. What makes you, YOU?

– From ‘From ‘Tides of Being’ by Tanvi Agarwal

A Quote to Remember:

Every season comes with a season of smiles!

-From ‘From ‘Tides of Being’ by Tanvi Agarwal

An Appreciation for the Illustrator:

If you want to know how much a talented artist can enrich your work so that the reader instantly falls in love with the thought-provoking illustrations inside the book, then you must flip the pages of the book ‘Tides of Being’.

The illustrator, Ruchi Sinha, a girl from Ranchi, has done a remarkable job of illustrating the book with her gorgeous artwork. Each poem has an illustration below the poem. I felt the illustrations were much deeper than the poems as the arts will take you on a journey inward and make you pause and observe them to know the unspoken words beneath those strokes and sketches.

Even for some illustrations, the reader may spend a quality amount of time interpreting the illustration on their own, because these arts speak for themselves.

I appreciate Ruchi Sinha’s thought process and efforts given to illustrate the poems and level up the reading experience.

My Recommendation:

If you want to read the contemplating thoughts on life, self, and the various aspects of being, in the form of notes from a young girl, then this book is a must-read for you. If you are interested in reading some profound thoughts that motivate you to keep going defying all the odds, then this book is for you.

Also, if you are a young adult who is wondering about the future, and wants to pause and introspect yourself to get a clear vision of your purpose, then you can grab this book to ask yourself the questions and get your own answers from your inner voice to guide you towards the future goals.

I believe this book’s audience widely belongs to GenZ and those who are currently in their early years of youth. Because senior readers may expect a book with slightly deeper thoughts and more divergent writing.

However, if you are willing to delve into a poetry book that offers you some moments of introspection and asks you some profound questions about your being, then you must grab this book irrespective of your age. I can assure you will find some gems of thoughts from this bunch of notes.

Buy the book here.

(I received an ARC copy for an honest and unbiased feedback. All opinions are my own.)

Connect with me @blissfulstoryteller and Tanvi @prickedinsight on Instagram.