Sisyphus is Happy and Selected Poems

After taking some time off from doing book reviews, we are back with the review of Sisyphus is Happy and Selected Poems by Sanjana Saksena Chandra.

Sisyphus is Happy and Selected Poems

Sisyphus is Happy is a collection of short poems inspired by the stories we’ve heard growing up and the things that we see and hear every day. Can Sisyphus really be happy? Who is the hero of Mahabharat? Why are we prisoners and not travelers? Each poem in this book attempts to address a question or drive home a lesson. Steeped in themes that resonate with the world we live in today, these 10 poems will make you stop and ponder.

Our Take

1. When I requested Sanjana’s PR to send a review copy, I thought the book would be a large collection. The small size of the book disappointed me a bit.
2. Sisyphus was the cunning king of Corinth. But, when I first saw the name of the book, I was reminded of the common fruit ber or jujube because the Botanical name of the fruit is Zizyphus jujuba. 🙂 I felt nostalgic and went back to my time in college.
3. The book begins with acknowledgements and it is written in the form of a poem. That gives an interesting start to the book.
4. The poems have been written in simple understandable manner.
5. Appendix has useful information for those who are uninitiated about the topics. And I am sure the author and the editor of the book would have put in a good lot of hard work on this book. But, the explanations in the Appendix have some spelling errors. The errors kind of stand out. Take for example, the page number 55 starts with “Karna is the son of Kunti and the sun god and though he is half-brother to the Pandavas he fight’s from the Kauravas side.” In the given context “fight’s” is wrongly used. It should be “fights”. The editing could have been tighter because the mistakes in the text distract while reading the book.

About the Author

Sanjana Saksena Chandra is a marketing professional and a published poet. Her first collection of poetry, Sisyphus is Happy and Selected Poems, released in June 2019, and was among the top 10 bestsellers in Poetry on Amazon post its release. She is a regular contributor of poetry and articles on socio-cultural issues to leading news websites and blogs. Her poems have also been featured multiple times in acclaimed literary magazines like Beetle and Indian Women Writing. Sanjana is a graduate in English Literature from Lady Shriram College and went on to pursue a degree in journalism from Times School of Journalism. She has worked in the media and marketing industry for close to 8 years. From a Bollywood entertainment Channel and a Startup specialized communications agency to global multinationals, she has helped develop relevant communications across the spectrum. Her second book, a collection of 99 poems, is soon to be released.

Book Title: Sisyphus is Happy and Selected Poems.

Genre(s): Poems.

Author: Sanjana Saksena Chandra.

Publisher (Year): Notion Press. (2019).

ISBN: 978-1-64587-314-3.

Number of Pages: 55.

Price: Rs.180/-.