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A review by le_lobey
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi
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.
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.