Author:  Barbara Rabinowitz

Publisher: Author House, 2004

ISBN:1418435813

              The following review was contributed by:  CAROLYN HOWARD-JOHNSON &CLICK TO VIEW  Carolyn  Howard-Johnson's Reviews

Barbara Rabinowitz's Facets: To Smithereens and Back is a book of hope, trial and yes, love.  One cannot help but feel envy for the love she has experienced and for her courage in facing its loss and in searching for another to fill the void.  It is, in her words, about "the great molecule me" and because of that universality, it will touch all.

Having said that, Facets, is especially suited for women. Rabinowitz seems unerringly to touch a chord that will resonate in our souls.  She says, I have finished the cardboard calendar without you…"  She touches on the practical aspects of love and death with "O deceased Taxpayer…"  and  the poem, "Parenthood--Opting Out," and celebrating a birthday in one called "Counting Down."  "Bar Hoping" is a pun on "bar hopping" and works well for the woman searching for more than desire.  She takes her own tribulations and turns them into nuggets of emotion for the different stages in a woman's life.

With all the metaphors available in Facets, it was odd that I was taken with the fonts used for the poems' titles.  They look like script written on a bathroom mirror in steam or on a ghetto wall in blood.  I also liked the way she separated the parts into segments resembling the stages of grief after a loss. 

For all those who have lost a love, Facets is a way to purge the pain, to recognize yourself. To cry. To Laugh. To move on.