Dreaming Big Publications
Reviewed by Nicolette
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the early 1980’s, serial killer Clifford Olson rampaged through the lower mainland of British Columbia, raping and murdering eleven victims. His heinous cash-for-bodies deal foreshortened his trial, and resulted in the law currently on Canadian books that forbids criminals from benefiting financially from their crimes.
Olson was just the pimple on the hide of a misogynist culture, as this long poem sequence attests.
Sometimes a book project chooses its author, as this one did when the author recognized one of the victims from her photograph.
MY REVIEW
4/5. This was a very interesting set of poems about something I had never heard of before. Not only were the poems extremely informative about the story of Clifford Olson, but they were also written very well and I never got bored throughout the entire book. I am not usually a fan of poetry but this one really intrigued me because I have never seen anything quite like this that dealt with such a serious and sensitive topic as a serial killer who used his crimes to get money for his family. The subject as well as the writing for this book really make it a worthwhile read. I definitely look forward to reading other works from this author.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Stevenson is the author of twenty-nine other full-length works, including, most recently, two haikai poetry collections, Fruit Wedge Moon (Hidden Brook Press, 2015) and The Heiligen Effect (Ekstasis Editions, 2015). Richard also performs with the young adult rock/poetry group Sasquatch on occasion and did a recording with the adult jazz/poetry ensemble Naked Ear of some of his jazz poetry. He holds degrees in English, Education, and Creative Writing from The University of Victoria and University of British Columbia and recently retired from a thirty-year gig teaching Canadian Literature, Creative Writing, and Business Communication at Lethbridge College in southern Alberta.
DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts are my own.
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Scissors-Paper-Clifford-Murders/dp/1539874273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484348269&sr=8-1&keywords=rock+paper+scissors+book+the+clifford