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A review by fearsomethings
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
3.0
Hermano Ocean Vuong, I understood not a single thing that was expressed. I couldn’t quite grasp the context, the POVs, the subtext, the metaphors and relate it to Vuong’s biography. Therefore, out of 34 poems I only liked one, ”Seventh Circle of Earth”—profoundly moving and heartbreaking—which unfortunately is based on a true story: “On April 27, 2011, a gay couple, Michael Humphrey and Clayton Capshaw, was murdered by immolation in their home in Dallas, Texas.”
Furthermore, was it really necessary to quote Dahmer?? I don’t want to get into the discussion of art for art’s sake, but it forcibly pull me out of the reading atmosphere. I’m pretty sure there was some other person out there you could’ve quoted to make the point come across, which was really clear I might add that wouldn’t have had the same effect had it been another person. But I still don’t like it. Overall, I’m glad it’s over because I couldn’t connect with any of the poems or whatever they were trying to convey (except ”Seventh Circle of Earth”, to which I balled my eyes out, had to stop and ask myself why people are so fucking cruel).
Furthermore, was it really necessary to quote Dahmer?? I don’t want to get into the discussion of art for art’s sake, but it forcibly pull me out of the reading atmosphere. I’m pretty sure there was some other person out there you could’ve quoted to make the point come across, which was really clear I might add that wouldn’t have had the same effect had it been another person. But I still don’t like it. Overall, I’m glad it’s over because I couldn’t connect with any of the poems or whatever they were trying to convey (except ”Seventh Circle of Earth”, to which I balled my eyes out, had to stop and ask myself why people are so fucking cruel).