3 out of 4 stars
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The Dicer's cup by Bill Christophersen is a reflective autobiography written in seamless and captivating poetry. The poems delve into various aspects of the author's life, mainly his childhood life, his transition into adulthood, his music career and his family and friends. It is the second poetry book by the author and reading it was a pleasure.
The book is divided into three sections with each section reflecting the author's state of mind in regard to his situation at that particular moment. The poems are a rollercoaster of emotion and I found myself laughing from the generous humour, feeling sad and occasionally caught up in the suspense.
From what I read, Christophersen is very gifted and describing his work as colorful is an understatement. This is not an easy read though. It is thought provoking and contains phrases that a mind of average comprehension capacity will have difficulty deciphering. I often had to read many of the poems more than once in order to realize the deeper meaning behind the text. The writing style used is free verse and I would like to imagine that this is in tune with the author's free spirit.
What I liked most was a poem in which the author likens his childhood to that of Jesus. This is done beautifully in a humorous and non offensive way. There are also several other biblical allusions used. Readers who are not familiar with biblical teachings might have trouble with this. The author is also a bluegrass fiddle player and this part of his life is very prominent in his poems.
The themes of change, friendship, family life, resilience and personal loss are covered. It is refreshing that these are based on the author's personal experiences therefore adding an air of authenticity to his work. The individual poems vary in length from just a few lines to more than one page long. This diversity is well presented and for any given poem, it didn't feel like there was too much information or something missing.
The only downside is that I encountered a few grammatical errors. Though not many, they left me wondering how such a well written piece of work could contain errors. There is also extra indentation on on almost every page. These could be reconciled with a round of editing. Were it not for this minor setback, I would have given the book a perfect score but I will have to rate it 3 out of 4 stars. This is a book I would recommend to anyone who desires an intellectually stimulating read.
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The Dicer's Cup
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