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alymiwasaa's review against another edition
5.0
beautiful collection of poetry, had to put it down multiple times because of how hard it hit me ! favourite poems were: nguyen, the ranger, reunion, and notes on staying
lavagurl's review against another edition
5.0
Made me really love poetry. Some of these are amazing spoken word. Felt seen as a queer Vietnamese person. Explored different formatting which kept my interest.
livbreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
piecesoflune's review against another edition
4.0
I believe it was a snippet from one of the Twitter accounts that posted quotes and book excerpts that led me to this one. I assumed it was a novella or short stories, but it turned out to be a poetry collection, which I plan to read more of this year (Yay!).
It was short, sharp, and suffocating in a way I cannot explain. I like the writing and the overall mood, though I know I need to read more poems, to dive deeper into poetry in order to fully immerse myself in the meaning. Baby steps!
"Let me be clear: any love I find will be treason."
"'I cannot love you, if I love you, I will die.'
For years I chose death."
"What do you do with tenderness
when all you expect is fury?"
It was short, sharp, and suffocating in a way I cannot explain. I like the writing and the overall mood, though I know I need to read more poems, to dive deeper into poetry in order to fully immerse myself in the meaning. Baby steps!
"Let me be clear: any love I find will be treason."
"'I cannot love you, if I love you, I will die.'
For years I chose death."
"What do you do with tenderness
when all you expect is fury?"
townsendme's review against another edition
5.0
Heartbreaking and lyrical, poems read very cohesively together. I would recommend to folks who also liked Home Body by Rupi Kaur in terms of contending with childhood sexual abuse in a powerful way. The poems span many more topics—Vietnamese history, racial dynamics of dating white partners, queer desire, friendships, and loss. This was my first time reading his work and I was very moved and inspired to break out of my poem writing block. Will be reading more.
sakeriver's review against another edition
It’s strange to feel in reading a book of poems that it is both life-affirming and skeptical of living, but that’s how this feels to me. A lot in this is about the ways we hurt each other, and the ways that life may not be worth the effort, about the struggle to convince yourself to continue. Yet in the depth of their honesty, there’s something kind of comforting about these poems as well. A recognition, I suppose, that someone else also has had these feelings. I feel... complicated right now.
adambwriter's review against another edition
4.0
Very brief thoughts: https://roofbeamreader.com/2019/07/30/a-successful-poetry-month/
jtaylor_98's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75