Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick poetry read. I both liked and disliked poetry on audio. On one hand I loved seeing what the author wanted to emphasize, but then I felt I didn't get as much out of it. It didn't stick with me the way poetry usually does. Maybe poetry on audio just isn't for me.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* I'm going to start out saying i don't read much poetry but have been trying to, so i don't think i understand most of this book.

that being said. WTF did i just listen to? i forced myself to listen to the whole thing even though i thought i was going to go insane listening to "nothing. nothing. nothing" 30x straight or the one where her uncle? gave her a UTI and she groans and groans and groans in increasingly annoying tones and lengths for like 3 minutes.

Unsure why everything was so sexual, a lot of it was just flat out disgusting (like wiper her fat c*nt lips on her poems leaving a mark on it? wtf). i had to stop several times because i was just so grossed out, like "my dads stretched as*hole* why? what is that supposed to mean?

the only things i could understand was the racist references, but everything else clearly went far over my head. Got "kid trying to be vulgar to get attention" vibes, which as someone who can say f**k 10x in a one word sentence, i'm shocked to find myself saying any of this.

imo the audiobook was flat out horrible and annoying, i don't think it translated well to audio vs what it looks like on paper and made it feel jumbled and confusing to me.

I received an advanced edition of the audiobook and was excited because I am always intrigued by poetry audiobooks read by the audiobook. I was put off by the first handful of poems, but because the collection is so short, I decided to give it a shot. I am sad to say the collection did not get better. The author seems to go for shock value for most of the poems either using vulgar language or creating gross images. This collection was just not for me.

i honestly gave this collection a chance but the first few poems are by just too florid for me. zhang goes out of the way to be gross, perhaps mistaking vulgarity with substance. there was nothing shocking or raw about these poems. if anything, i found their attempts at being edgy and gritty kind of pathetic. this collection gives '13-yr old who just got into swearing' energy and i won't be here for it. anyway, just to give you an idea of what i'm talking about, here is the first poem:

if there is an august
there is an august
I wouldprobably write every day
but some days I get caught up
rubbing my pussy
checking for pimples
green ones pop on their own
when I need to cum
or when I'm flicking cum out
beautiful white globs that dry mid-air
I would be lazier than this


or we have one that goes on like this:

to give pencils to mothers
who are incarcerated
they can take those pencils and break them
in their stupid cunts
I bail out everyone of those cunts


and a few lines later we get this:

my detachable pussy is not afraid of being
approachable by a man late at night
who is like hey girl
you don't need none of that
you look good without makeup
and I feel very sexy
because my cunt gets leashed to a tree
and waves hello to everyone


disclaimer: i did not understand these poems nor do i claim to. if you are fan of zhang please don't @ me. my inability to appreciate her poems is entirely subjective. if you are interested in this collection and were not put off by the above snippets...well, go for it! i'm sure there is an audience for this collection, it just so happens that i am not part of it.

I love when authors, especially poets, read their own audiobooks. I was lucky to receive this one through net galley. Jenny Zhang’s poems have such a surprising mix between dark humor, kind of alarming choices of words, and political commentary on race, class, immigration, and womanhood. These poems didn’t all work for me, but most were still entertaining and/or thought-provoking. I’m looking forward to reading (or listening to) her prose soon too. 3.5