'These beautiful poems have that quality of being breathed into the world that always means that deep experience went into them. The spirituality here is so light, so witty, so spontaneous, so open to the unknown, so open to the life of the mind, so generous, so visceral, how did it come to be so…heavy a topic in the West? How did it come to be a topic at all?' – Dennis Nurkse
'By turns laconic and passionate, she asks questions about morality and integrity that many poets simply refuse to take on. Yet she is also an extraordinary love poet… A remarkable book from a remarkable poet.' – John Burnside, Poetry Review, on Where I Live
'Subramaniam’s verse is imbued with the spiritual and mythic in this wonderful collection, Love Without A Story. Poised and measured, these poems encourage the reader to think and feel deeply, to sit and watch as Subramaniam unveils artfully composed observations about the cosmos we inhabit and those we share it with. Love Without a Story is a breath-taking and heart-warming collection.' – Poetry Book Society Bulletin
'Arundhathi Subramaniam's collection, Love Without a Story, is crammed full of delicious sensations, drawn from a multitude of cultures... My lasting impression of her work is of sheer, inventive, self-delighting energy... a fabulous book!.' – Dorothy Yamamoto, ARTEMISpoetry
'To read Love Without a Story... is to be in the presence of a poet who is capable of rendering the physical and the everyday with a sort of sensual plenitude whilst at the same time exploring connections outwards onto more transcendental, sometimes mythical planes...' – Tom Phillips, Inkroci Magazine
'Love Without a Story is a lyrical exposition of the journey through life; we are left the richer for having read these poems.' – Sue Wallace-Shaddad, The Alchemy Spoon
'A sense of wonder and striking contrasts pervade the Indian poet’s fourth collection. The sacred meets the everyday, cerebral wordplay delivers full-blooded emotion, and ancient Hindu myths run alongside contemporary urban life. Breathtaking in scope, taking in religious faith, friendships, love affairs and existential themes. Often the work questions poetry itself – but it is always rooted in the physical and the tangible, with fresh visual imagery that really packs a punch. Bold and thought-provoking.' – Juanita Coulson, The Lady, on When God Is a Traveller
'Arundhathi Subramaniam has already won acclaim as a poet of integrity… There is a beautiful uncertainty about her poems… intimately physical, intense enough to scald and char, along with a will to withdraw, to renounce… unhibitedly sensual while still yearning for transcendence. This ambivalence, combined with a sense of wonder, of unexpectedness, of moods as well as words, is what marks her apart,' – K. Satchidanandan, Frontline, on When God Is a Traveller.
Subramaniam’s verse is imbued with the spiritual and mythic in this wonderful collection, Love Without a Story. Poised and measured, these poems encourage the reader to think and feel deeply, to sit and watch as Subramaniam unveils artfully composed observations about the cosmos we inhabit and those we share it with. Love Without a Story is a breath-taking and heart-warming collection.—Poetry Book Society Bulletin
