ellagrace233's review against another edition
4.0
fuck. wtf. okay.... destroyed but also it was amazing?
laz92's review against another edition
4.0
Some of these poems hit so hard. Definitely not literary enough to understand some of them but the emotion is just falling off the pages.
msiyleen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
jonbot666's review against another edition
5.0
This acts as an epilogue to the wonderful and barely fictional novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Musing on his mother and death and all he didn’t tell her and what he can never tell her, we get a sense that even though his emotions about her, which are forever complicated are never resolved, that his history is inexorable from his being. What made him is his painful history and whether it is worth it or not is beside the point. It bore his desire to expound and transmute all the trauma, generational and otherwise into art. Even his prose reads like poetry. His poetry doesn’t read like words. It only occurs to me like a tingling on my skin. Some experiences within are beyond my scope and still are allowed to resonate. Others, are inherently queer in their construction and I feel them innately.
My favorite line besides the closing one, which I will not ruin is “My jaw a ransacked drawer” because it contains so much in few words. If you only read one poetry book cover to cover, let it be this one.
My favorite line besides the closing one, which I will not ruin is “My jaw a ransacked drawer” because it contains so much in few words. If you only read one poetry book cover to cover, let it be this one.
yassinelbadrawy's review against another edition
5.0
God only knows how much I needed this in my life right now. They say literature is sometimes powerful enough to incite wars, I believe Ocean gracefully posses this ability, but he ignites wars inside of you.
"I want to
take care of our planet
because I need a beautiful
graveyard. It’s true I’m not a writer
but a faucet underwater. When the flood comes
I’ll raise my hand so they know
who to shoot. The sky flashes. The sea
yearns. I myself am hell."
"I want to
take care of our planet
because I need a beautiful
graveyard. It’s true I’m not a writer
but a faucet underwater. When the flood comes
I’ll raise my hand so they know
who to shoot. The sky flashes. The sea
yearns. I myself am hell."
emmauwilson's review against another edition
5.0
I think this was less cohesive than On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, but it was more interesting. I love the way Ocean Vuong, and how poignant and beautiful the prose is. One of my favourite writers.