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courtneyfalling's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
5.0
At this point I will read anything Hieu Minh Nguyen publishes on sight omh
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Child death
elwirax's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Something wicked has occupied me for years...until I woke up holding a pair of scissors and a fist clenching the parts of me that had already died, there’s no need to eradicate this vessel of shadows. Lightning won’t strike twice on a vandalized house.
I am told I’m supposed to hate you, since hate is the body that stays when love leaves, but by now that skin has a new name, and if the story of us begins in summer, then I’m the one who left.
I’ve been told that once you’ve been stabbed, it is better to leave the blade inside the body—removing the dagger will only open the wound further. Forgiveness will bleed you thin. If you ignore it, your skin could close around the metal.
A raw look into childhood memories and how they haunt and damage long after they've been buried.
This poetry collection is filled with the hardships of racism, assimilation, sexual abuse and coming to terms with sexuality in a Vietnamese household. As the title of this collection may suggest, it's also about overcoming these hardship for your own peace of mind and changing them into something freeing (such as poetry in the author's case).TATER TOT HOTDISH and STUBBORN INERITANCE particularly stood out to me as they reflected my own experience as an immigrant and assimilation as well as my own relationship with my mother. The author really made me feel so much in so few words.
Poetry is meant to be related to so while I appreciated the honesty of the author and bravery to be so open and personal, I personally didn't relate to many of the poems. That being said, just because I didn't relate to them doesn't mean they weren’t good and won't have an impact on other people, such is the beauty of poetry.
Overall, I didn't necessarily enjoy many of these poems but they were very real and full of raw emotions, struggles and difficult themes. It's undoubtedly a great collection.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault
Minor: Homophobia
thewordsdevourer's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
2.5
a deftly written work whose carefully chosen words amazingly say a lot w/ very little, a masterful 'show-not-tell.' this way to the sugar explores the immigrant experience, loss, queer sexuality, and trauma through striking yet sublime imagery that manages to somehow combine both sexuality and violence ("napalm bukkake" is certainly a phrase i'll never forget), w/ my favs being "buffet etiquette" and "ladyboy theatre."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Death
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