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nineinchnails's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
i don't usually read poetry so i think a lot of these went over my head. i didn't really connect to or understand much of the poems in the first half of this collection which was a little disappointing because i've heard such good things about vuong's work. there were more than a few poems in the second half that managed to grip me though.
'Künstlerroman' was my favourite here. if i'm remembering correctly it was the longest poem, which might be why i managed to connect to it more. it was gutting and felt very raw. a shorter poem i really enjoyed was 'Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker'. i don't think i've ever had a list poem make me tear up like that. vuong is no doubt a talented poet but i think the formatting and structure of most of these poems just didn't work for me - that's not to say that they'll never work for me, but as it stands i don't read much poetry so i much preferred the longer poems in this collection.
'Künstlerroman' was my favourite here. if i'm remembering correctly it was the longest poem, which might be why i managed to connect to it more. it was gutting and felt very raw. a shorter poem i really enjoyed was 'Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker'. i don't think i've ever had a list poem make me tear up like that. vuong is no doubt a talented poet but i think the formatting and structure of most of these poems just didn't work for me - that's not to say that they'll never work for me, but as it stands i don't read much poetry so i much preferred the longer poems in this collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, War, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Racism
Minor: Suicide and Police brutality
lowbrowhighart's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Sexual assault, Cancer, Mental illness, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, and Police brutality
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
auger's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
I am the first to say that modern poetry can be disappointing to say the least. Vuong avoided everything that makes modern poetry cringy. He is quite criptic and the way his scentences start as one thing and end up as another is remarkable and very kawakami. Love it and will reread it many times over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Suicide, Self harm, Sexual content, Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Addiction, Racism, Police brutality, Mental illness, Blood, and War
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