Title: Whispers
Author: Meri Tumanyan
Publisher: Urlink Print & Media, LLC
ISBN: 979-8896902041
Pages: 146
Genre: Poetry
Reviewer: Ephantus M.

Read Book Review

Whispers by author and poet Meri Tumanyan is a touching and deeply personal collection of poetry written through free verse and lyrical poetry. Tumanyan deeply reflects on family, grief, womanhood, love, trauma, and the quiet, often invisible strength

passed between generations of women. The poems are raw, honest, and emotionally rooted in personal, bittersweet memory but wide enough to feel universal and timeless.

The book is split into five unique sections, each holding a different mood or theme but flowing together like a single, cohesive life journey. In the early parts, she explores her childhood, the complexities of her troubled parents, and the weight of cultural and emotional expectations. Here, she candidly shares her silent observations as a sensitive small girl, trying to comprehend her father’s cold silence and her mother’s quiet despair. She has offered poems about sudden loss, funerals, missing voices, and holding on to fading memories with both love and regret. As we go deeper, the poems shift to emotional and romantic relationships – both tender and painful – touching on longing, rejection, desire, and emotional survival.

Later, the poems turn to themes of motherhood, identity, and the pressure of being a modern woman in a world full of traditions and unspoken rules. Tumanyan writes about single mothers, exhausted women, anxious daughters, and strong women trying to make peace with their inner worlds. She does a great job sharing small, ordinary scenes like sorting toys, sipping bitter coffee, watching a child sleep, that somehow pass big and essential messages on love, sacrifice, and endeavoring to find quiet peace. Additionally, there are also a few soft, self-aware poems about poetry itself, the act of writing, and how stories help us heal and understand ourselves.

The book’s structure is simple, clear, and strong. Each section builds upon the last, creating a smooth rhythm of life; childhood, loss, love, motherhood, and healing. The poems vary in length and tone but are always easy to follow. Tumanyan doesn’t use overly complicated words or abstract metaphors. Instead, she writes clearly, honestly, and directly, often using everyday, relatable language to show deep, lingering emotions. Her writing feels like a conversation, warm, vulnerable talk with someone you trust.

One of the best things about Whispers is how it balances sadness and hope. The poems skillfully address difficult topics like mortality, familial trauma, and worry without making the reader feel depressed or hopeless by including a little light, a small comfort, or a thoughtful lesson somewhere in between. Another notable point is how whether she’s remembering her grandmother’s home-cooked meals or watching her daughter’s innocent sleep, Tumanyan finds beauty and meaning in the quietest moments. Readers will deeply appreciate how the book also honors silence, memory, and the hidden power of love, the soft “whispers” that live between people, even when words fail.

Whispers is without a doubt a beautiful and moving read, the kind of book which makes you pause and reflect on your own life, your family, and the quiet, emotional things that shape you. Meri Tumanyan’s voice is strong, tender, wise, and full of heart, giving anyone who feels lost, or searching for their place in the world something that feels familiar and real. I admire that her poetry does not aim to be fancy – it just delivers the truth, which I feel is what makes it so compelling.