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A review by brice_mo
A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems by Emily Jungmin Yoon
5.0
I think this is one of the most heartbreaking books of poetry I've ever read, finding continuity between personal and historical pain in so many meaningful ways.
For readers who are unaware of the history of "comfort women," it's a brutal lesson in how the past seeps into the present, as well as how we are never as far from cruelty as we might like to believe.
Even so, Yoon writes with what might be considered gentleness; she shows so much care for the fragile histories of her subjects, and it feels like the only way to appropriately honor suffering.
For readers who are unaware of the history of "comfort women," it's a brutal lesson in how the past seeps into the present, as well as how we are never as far from cruelty as we might like to believe.
Even so, Yoon writes with what might be considered gentleness; she shows so much care for the fragile histories of her subjects, and it feels like the only way to appropriately honor suffering.