{"id":9754,"date":"2021-06-19T10:48:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T16:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=9754"},"modified":"2021-06-19T12:14:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T18:14:19","slug":"clouded-thoughts-by-michael-froilan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=9754","title":{"rendered":"Clouded Thoughts by Michael Froilan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"9755\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?attachment_id=9755\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/clouded-thoughts.jpg?fit=328%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"328,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"clouded-thoughts\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/clouded-thoughts.jpg?fit=328%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/clouded-thoughts.jpg?resize=200%2C304&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9755\" width=\"200\" height=\"304\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A marvelous mix of insights and profundity\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Froilan\u2019s impressive, insightful collection of short poems shimmers with reflection, perception, and spiritual profundity. Self-doubt, insecurity, and the fear of failure and ridicule serve as the catalysts for the book\u2019s underlying theme of empowerment. Froilan skillfully combines vulnerability and strength, and one of his most remarkable insights is trying to find positivity even in the most negative situation; he writes: \u201cRock bottom is a dead end,\/ Nothing takes place there.\/ The only upside is it\u2019s safe.\u201d Themes of insecurity, self-doubt, failure permeate the pages, but that doesn\u2019t prevent the collection to shimmer with optimism and hope. \u201cSlow Death,\u201d \u201cSnubnosed,\u201d and \u201cPay Dirt\u201d deliver the inspiring message of finding courage in the face of failure and so do the uplifting and encouraging \u201cMonuments\u201d and \u201cLost and Found,\u201d which are also sketched on similar lines. Vignettes of nostalgia and longing for an old love are rendered skillfully in \u201cRidges&#8221; as Froilan writes: \u201cAt times I desperately wish\/ some scissors could cut\/ the distance that stands between us.\/ Racial barriers,\/ naysayers,\/ Kilometers:\u201d Moving and heartening \u201cPulse\u201d is an ode to familial love. The poems in the collection embodies Froilan\u2019s ability to translate struggles of everyday life, negativity as well as beauty and surprise that life has to offer into language. \u201cConcrete Island &#8221; celebrates small moments of leisure and unwinding whereas the inspiring and uplifting \u201cSpine\u201d applauds uniqueness. Stirring and thoughtful, the collection serves as a testament to life, inviting readers to learn to overcome negativity, and to aim, plan, and dream. This is a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Clouded Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Michael Froilan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Clouded-Thoughts-Michael-Froilan\/dp\/B08WK2HG8P\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pub date February 14, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISBN 979-8701656633<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Price $11.00 (USD) Paperback, $8.22 Kindle edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A marvelous mix of insights and profundity\u2026 Froilan\u2019s impressive, insightful collection of short poems shimmers with reflection, perception, and spiritual profundity. Self-doubt, insecurity, and the fear of failure and ridicule serve as the catalysts for the book\u2019s underlying theme of empowerment. Froilan skillfully combines vulnerability and strength, and one of his most remarkable insights is trying to find positivity even in the most negative situation; he writes: \u201cRock bottom is a dead end,\/ Nothing takes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":9755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[7223,91,3328,178,1136176,422,1473,1008073,856121,309,349],"class_list":["post-9754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-indie-books","tag-poetry","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/clouded-thoughts.jpg?fit=328%2C499&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-2xk","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9754"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9764,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754\/revisions\/9764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}