Reviews

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi

danidontduit's review

5.0

a take on the ~state of the world~ (it’s not good) (obviously) (but we still keep on keeping on etc). personal griefs & global griefs & how they’re all one and the same -- the human condition and so on, u know, the usual. harrowing n haunting n somehow also healing -- boy these poems sure can poem!! 

michaelion's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

I've been feeling very hopeless / miserable lately and even just the first poem made me be like wow there really is hope for the future / humanity. I paid $28 for this book and it was worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, War, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Classism, and Genocide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Racial slurs

oria4466's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

panickedhonking's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

A strange mix of the most tragic and heartbreaking poems which gave me a sense that there's something after every apocalypse. Exhaustive list of content warnings somehow non-exhaustive still.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Death, Misogyny, Genocide, Eating disorder, Slavery, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Mass/school shootings, Body horror, Suicide, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Rape, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

moth_dance's review

4.0

exceptionally energetic writing from franny choi, one of this generation's most intuitive poets

dcllins's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

sumaya98smerdon's review

dark emotional fast-paced

4.0

brendafw's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.0

le_lobey's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

This project is rather different from Soft Science, which made me fall in love with Choi's work. I still really enjoyed it, particularly all of the playing with tense in the first section (Grief Is a Thing with Tense Issues), and the poem "How to Let Go Of the World" really blew me away. I loved how each of the vignettes at the beginning grew into one another. It was very affecting.

I also liked the sequence of poems "Upon Learning That Some Korean War Refugees Used Partially Detonated Napalm Canisters As Cooking Fuel." Other standouts include:

I learned that I was Beautiful
Unlove Poem
Prayer for the Untranslated Testimony
Wildlife
Demilitarized Zone

I didn't love all of the list poems. The part of this collection that highlights movement through time and intergenerational identification was wonderful, but didn't blow my mind as it would have if I hadn't read Richard Powers and Moore's Jerusalem. Can't fault her for it, it just made those bits less affecting for me.

ashley_wohner's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5