This is one of my Giveaways wins from Goodreads. Sean Michael is currently serving a life sentence in California for Murder One (due to a loophole in the Felony Murder law that is written so that if a death occurs while you are committing a felony (in Michael’s case, car theft), you will be charged with felony murder. From what I’ve read in the comments on his site, it seems that he stole a truck and that someone died as a result of falling out of the back when he hit something/stopped abruptly.
This is a book of poetry written from his adolescence on – some of it clearly reflects that adolescence.
The term stygian means “of or relating to the Styx river,” or “very dark,” a fitting title for a book of “darker poetry,” as Michael’s cover so accurately summarises the nature of his work.
The strongest elements of the poetry were Michael’s appeal to emotion and his varied subjects. He wrote on subjects like child abuse, addiction, loss, and life in prison. Michael’s life and writing are full of pain.
Overall, I didn’t love the book. Michael’s writing was indeed fairly juvenile; at times it seemed that the book itself had not been properly edited (there were multiple typos), and I felt that revision would have helped substantially.
I give the book a 4/10.
Happy reading!
The Feminist Lens 