Book Review: Happyagony
Happyagony
by Mem Ferda
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 9781836280392
Print Length: 208 pages
Reviewed by Toni Woodruff
Autobiographical poetry with a strong emotional pull
Mem grows up. Gets fame, some fortune, sees the bright lights, but lives in a world that’s breaking globally and personally. He experiences love; we feel heartbreak. This heartfelt collection offers a meaningful cathartic reading experience. Try reading these poems and not coming away longing for the embrace of your loved ones.
Happyagony is broken up into 5 sections: Youth, The Fallacy of Luxury, Society, Love, and Grief. For those eyeing the 250-page spine, don’t worry: nearly each poem in the collection is accompanied by an illustration to go in conjunction with the contents of the poem. They’re quite beautiful, thought-provoking illustrations that not only offer something of their own value but also clarify the themes of which you’ve just read. This makes it easy to read but even easier to feel for and connect with the impactful journey this poet goes on.
There’s no better place to start my praise than the end. The final section, “Grief,” features the finest, most emotionally wrought poems of the collection. The pages bleed with feeling. We’ve been getting to know Mem from his coming of age to his success to his love life only to feel the devastating weight of loss. Grief is a tough theme to tackle: it’s not easy writing about something so hard that almost everyone you know wants to avoid the conversation. But this book is one of the rare ones where you get sad and feel like it was worth it.
The “Youth” and “Love” sections really allow us to get to know Mem: what he likes, how he acts, how he’s become the person he’s become. The love poems are a touch of romance and a touch of reality. They are not all love stories in the end, even though they contend with the concept and impact of love. They even extend to the profound power of love in pets.
“Society” is a section about the world outside of Mem—the ones with wars and pandemics—and “The Fallacy of Luxury” is about the poet’s experiences with success, particularly those he encountered in the film world. Ferda is a celebrated British actor and award-winning film producer, so he’s seen some of the topsy-turvy world of show-business. We get to play witness to it. While this section is intriguing, it can sometimes feel separate from the four other sections.
I like rhyming and metered poetry. It’s a different skill and an impressive one, but sometimes the lines and stanzas in this collection can feel too dependent on finding the appropriate final word to rhyme with. The content is the strongest part of the collection, while the execution on the language level leaves some to be desired.
Happyagony is a collection you’ll be glad to fly through. The poems are straightforward, and the coming of age story is an earnest one, filled with success and sadness. If you’re ready to feel something, check out this book.
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