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tungstenmouse 's review for:

2.5
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

I feel so bad giving this 2 stars. I feel like I’m being told a great story secondhand and it’s not as great hearing it from someone else. I enjoyed Time Is A Mother way more. 
Part of the problem is me: I want to be that poetry person but I’m far too pedestrian to truly grasp it. I also know very little of The Vietnam War’s ending which seems to play a vital role here. 
Please note that the format of the book was part of the experience and I audibly sighed when coming across another two-columned tiny-font poem. I’m sorry my vision isn’t 20/20. 
A lot of the poems seem to involve intimate details of Vuong’s life so I feel like I can’t understand certain parts by their very nature. I’m not meant to understand this.