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However, it tread a few too many of the same beats as his previous novel.
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use
Minor: Ableism, Violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
I once read a Q&A from Ocean Vuong where he said he took 7 years to write his first book of poems. They were extremely carefully crafted and arranged nuggets of gold, and you can really tell.
I found his second poetry collection so brilliant and profound, I wept during the last third or so of it. I also remember really loving his first novel, so this book was a very anticipated release for me. I tried to find it for my book club to read before it was even published, that's how excited I was, okay?
I bought it for like 21 euros which is not nothing, I am pretty poor and spending on books is a big luxery for me, so that adds extra to the disappointment of not loving this book.
All that being said, it was not a bad book. I would have accepted it for what it was from any other author probably and given it like 3 stars. It was just... extremely mid.
I skimmed through a short interview with the author about this book (bcs I was wondering who the real Grazina was that the character was based on) and even in like, one reply of a few sentences, he says such interesting and deeply heartfelt things, I'm thinking WHYYYYY couldn't you have explored any of this in your novel??? How is your 5 minute interview gonna engage me more than your 400 page book?
I swear I almost would have rather paid my 21 euros on what he said in that interview than waste it on this book.
Right off the bat, it feels very much like a 15yo trying to sound deep for the sake of it, the first few pages are so overly flowery without any real depth or meaning that they're hard to read. That does get better once the story gets going, and the plot is somewhat interesting at times, with the relationship with the old lady for sure being the star player - but it really feels like Vuong didn't have that much to say, except for his trite 'life is worth living despite it all' sentiment, but he poored it into 400 pages anyway, and it ended up extremely boring and unnessecary.
Honestly, the most interesting things you could take away from this book are things you could take away from his other, better works instead.
The whole thing also feels -for lack of better words- insensitive? For one there's the rampant ableism, and while I do get that it's situated in 2009 and people were genrally even less educated about neurodivergencies and shit, it just feels like a CHOICE for an author who is not intelectually disabled or autistic to write so many slurs. Like. Full on the r-slur. on the page. And I know lots of ppl will disagree with me but for me this is on the same level as a non-black author using the n-slur uncensored. I know creative freedom and all that blabla but like that shit was insane to me to read. It felt like a slap across the face. The fact that characters who you're supposed to feel some kind of connection or endearment to were saying this stuff was not helping. I can get into the idea of the main character, who is 19, being a flawed character who cares despite his many shortcomings or whatever, but it still doesn't sit right with me. Idk man.
Then there's the weird glorification of amarican fast food chains which really really started to annoy me at some point. It was too much for me. I get that you're trying to make a point about real beings inside the capitalist machine making a real difference on a small scale , but jesus christ.
Then there's the whole chapter of graphic (cw animal abuse)
This book desperately tried to be meaningful, but it just did not work for me. I see it got a lot of glowing praise but part of me wonders if ppl aren't overselling it bcs they want their favorite author to have written another favorite book and can't make themselves face the truth that this is his weakest work yet.
But maybe I'm just bitter, idk.
One thing I did appreciate about this book was it's depiction of ageism, and how it portrayed this relationship between a lonely teen and a lonely elderly person and how they managed to connect in a special way. It was beautiful. The autism rep wasn't bad either, but the bullying and neglect from the other characters was difficult to read through.
Can't comment on how well the dementia was represented but I somewhat appreciated the parrallels between the ageism and ableism that different characters faced in different ways.
But in the end, it didn't pack an emotional punch for me, because ultimately there wasn't much substance to get any sort of catharsis or meaningful takeaway from.
It wasn't even fun or humorous at that, so it just didn't deliver.... anything.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Murder, War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Cancer, Slavery
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia, War
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Racism, Car accident
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, War, Classism
I wanted to like this more than I did :( Ocean Vuong is one of my favourite writers and I absolutely adored his first novel so I guess there was a certain expectation. I can't really pinpoint why but somehow I wasn't as captivated as I wanted to be, and due to the pacing I sadly found it hard to stay focused in the middle part.
The last chapters were gorgeous though. Ocean Vuong's writing was incredibly soft and heartfelt as always. The characters were well written and their stories and bonds were heartbreaking.
I'll probably never eat a carrot again without thinking of Grazina.
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Car accident
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, War