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List Price: $15.00 | | Publisher: Hyperion
Salesrank: 843464
Released: October 27, 2004 |
| Our Price: $1.49 |
| Used Price: $1.20 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
estselling recording artist Ashanti stormed the pop charts with her debut album Ashanti, going all the way to #1 and staying there for 10 weeks, garnering legions of loyal fans and earning her the nickname the 'Princess of Hip Hop.' In Foolish/Unfoolish, Ashanti explores the same themes that make her music so real for her fans-stories of falling head-over-heels in love, becoming broken-hearted or insanely jealous, getting over it, and loving life. Spirited, moving, and filled with Ashanti's unique sense of humor, this collection of poetry and reflections will entertain and surprise as it offers an intimate look into the life of one of today's most popular performers.
Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections On Love Reviews:
Lacks Depth 
2005-10-25 - I agree with all of you who take into account the fact that Ashanti wrote these poems when she was in High School, however, I was in high School when I read it and was apalled at her skills. How can such a great song writer be such a terrible poet? It didnt make sense to me because I equate both those processes to be one and the same. I found her skill at writing these poems minimal, most of her content childish and amateurish. They lacked not only alot of emotional depth, but maturity.
Granted Ashanti is no Maya Angelou, but she's not an elementary school kid either, that is, it is the level her work can be compared to. I felt like I was reading the work of a fourth grader, if it wasnt for the content.
I love Ashanti, but I dont love this work. It just seems like people in her PR dept thought it was a good idea to put out something like this to capitalize on her popularity. Nothing but a ploy to make more bucks! Don't waste your money or better yet, check it out from the library.
to Derek M.A. Alexander 
2005-01-28 - In response to Derek M.A. Alexander, while you and other reviewers made good points about Ashanti's work reflecting her younger and current age, the samples I read were poor, and I have taken into account that she wrote them when she was younger. This has nothing to do with her literary or educational level or even or maturity. Frankly, I've written better poems when I was younger, and I write better poems now. [...]
It's not the worst poetry book I've ever read 
2005-01-11 - "Foolish/Unfoolish" is very much like T-Boz's "Thoughts" in terms of structure: poetry is intertwined with antedotes and somewhat misguided advice for the consumer. Unlike "Thoughts," which dealt with T-Boz's ideas about things she didn't understand (like Marilyn Manson, in my opinion) and things she did (like her troubles with sickle-cell disease), this book deals with 1) Ashanti's poems, 2) what Ashanti thinks about love and 3) Ashanti's love life in high school, especially her proms. I have to admit to liking some of the poems--"Watch Me Glisten" and "To the Club" are my favorites--but one has to remember that she wrote all these poems in high school, meaning that they lack maturity and possibly a few good edits that professional poets would do before releasing poetry books. Every poem in Ashanti's book could be written by any junior high/high school girl in America (whether they're in a honors English class learning about "fancy-smancy" poets like Ashanti brags about or not); when I think of Ashanti's poems, I think of the girls in my 10th grade honors English class that still wrote sappy poems about love (and I wasn't one of them). There's nothing extremely special about most of these poems (unless you include the fact that parts of "Gotta Get Out" and "Us" were used as interludes on "Chapter II" and "Concrete Rose," respectfully). As for the antedotes, my favorite is when Ashanti forgets to pick up her sister to take her to a dance...to reveal the rest would be a spoiler. Otherwise Ashanti is either trying to provide good advice for teenagers in love or talking about her boyfriends. I couldn't care less about her boyfriends--she comes off as this preppy, popular, lovestricken teenager with fairly mundane adventures. If I grew up with her, I probably would be an outsider watching Ashanti maneuver her way through the popular crowd, not giving a damn about whether she would be homecoming queen or not. And since I am four years younger than Ashanti, practically her peer, I can't really take her ideas about romance seriously since I feel she lacks the romantic experience and confidence to give good relationship advice. (I also feel that she has some hang-up about sex, since she never delves into the topic fully in this book or in several of her romantic songs.) I feel that Ashanti could possibly be a good writer (and, sadly, for you people hoping she should never write a book again, she's inked deals to write more books for children) if she were a bit wiser and confident in love.
Foolish/Unfoolish : Reflections on Love
2004-07-03 - If you see this book or audio cd in stores RUUUUUUN it stinks oh my god I read the book first and it was boring so I was like I'm going to hear her read the book since she wrote it I thought she was going to put personality into it but she failed If they had a rating that was 0 or -1 then she'll deserves that
This Book Is For DIE HARD Ashanti Fans Only!!
2004-04-27 - I don't think Ashanti really put this out to show that she was some great poet, I think she was told by her handlers to put out one more thing for fans to buy. Strike while the iron is hot. This books is for die-hard fans only because they'll be the only ones to really get something out of this. I found the entries to be redundant and wishy washy. In one "reflection" Ashanti is trying to tell young ladies they don't need a man, love yourself, and play hard to get. Then in the next "reflection" she's saying that she wants to be with her boyfriend constantly, it's ok to have a little jealousy in your relationship, she's sneaking out of the house and from school for a guy. Which examples do you want young ladies to follow? It's one thing for Ashanti to write about her experiences but if she's trying to pass on lessons at least lead by example. It sounds like she was doing big girl things at an early age, some girls are mature enough for that but many are not. I give this book 2 stars instead of 1 solely based on the strength of her fans. They'll love anything she does like a true fan would, so I can see how they'll eat this up. Maybe with a little more time and proper editing this would have been much better.
