Review of Shitolian

[Stephen Muthini]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Shitolian" by O Persaud.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Shitolian by O Persaud is a collection of poems dealing with different subject matters. Some of the themes explored include racism, slavery, exploitation by the government, language, cultural appropriation, the meaning of suffering, climate change, and the behaviors of animals. These poems are grouped into categories depending on the overarching theme. The poems express a great degree of cynicism and distrust for human society, with little hope provided.

All the poems in the book are well-developed, and they explore their respective subject matters in depth. Most of the poems explore sensitive subjects that are of interest to most members of society. The poems are also written in a simple language that makes them easy to understand, thereby contributing to the enjoyment of the poems. The book is well-edited and does not contain grammatical errors.

I found that about the last quarter of the book contained poems that explored trivial matters that most probably don’t have any relevance to the reader and, hence, are not as enjoyable as the first part of the book. It seemed to me that the author ran out of substantive subject matter to write about and hence turned to these nonsensical subject matters to use as filler material in order to increase the length of the book. I found that the poems explored the problems that face human society in great depth but offered little in the way of solutions to these social problems, hence leaving the reader with a sense of hopelessness.

I, therefore, rate Shitolian by O Persaud a 4 out of 5. This rating can be justified by the fact that most of the poems cover sensitive issues that are of interest to most members of society and that the poems are written in a simple, easy-to-understand language, making them enjoyable, but on the other hand, the author has decided to explore trivial subject matters in the last quarter of the book, tarnishing the interest of the book as a whole.

The poems are written in a simple, easy-to-understand language that makes them understandable to most book lovers. Additionally, most of the poem covers sensitive issues that are of interest to many people in society, making it suitable for most adult poetry lovers. The language used in some of the poems is strong, making it unsuitable for younger book lovers. The book also contains subject matters of racism, slavery, gender-based violence, and the existence of God, which might be disturbing to some book lovers; therefore, discretion is advised.

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Shitolian
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