25 Love Poems for the NSA by Iain S. Thomas

25 Love Poems for the NSA

2 out of 5 Stars

What do you get when you mix a great concept plus a handful of awful execution?

This book.

Twenty-five Love Poems for the NSA has been on my list for so long; only special books get put on my birthday-wishes list, but this was a grave disappointment. Nearly as disappointing as Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass.

Here is a sample from the book, that not only caught my attention but made the whole thing seem rebellious, which I am shamelessly into when it comes to literature:

Warning: Every poem in this book has one or more words in it that have been taken from the NSA’s watch list. A full list of the words appears at the back of this book. By transmitting this book via email or other means, you are liable to be tracked by the NSA as a potential terrorist threat. This book is dedicated to how ridiculous that is.

Who wouldn't be into that?! It creates a great sense of suspense and danger, as if the readers are just as rebellious as the author. There is an imminent connection made within the contents of the first page between the reader and the author, a connection that falls flat and completely disappears as the book goes on.

My main problem with this book is that it kind of hyped itself. This isn't always a bad thing, and sometimes the book ends up living to or even exceeding that hype. Unfortunately, Twenty-five Love Poems For The NSA struggles immensely to live up to the high bar it set for itself.

It's a great concept. The premise is golden. The author wants to tell his audience how ridiculous the NSA is for making a connection between certain words and potential terrorists. However, the execution of this concept is horrible. The poems don't stick with you, there is hardly any insight, and the whole thing just seems like a sham of a show. Just because you have a great premise doesn't mean people are going to like your book.

It seems as if hardly any thought or care got out into any of these poem. It's like the author had a page filled with all the ‘banned’ words per say, and just filled in the blanks.

Although the concept might make you think that there author had something important to say, it seems as if he doesn't. The poems were not thoughtful; I was just so disappointed. I was so excited for this book to be risky and fresh, but it just ended up feeling like a big ‘meh’.

Great concept. Poor Execution.