Modern, funny, existential, and tragic. I really enjoyed this collection and connected to a lot of the feelings in these poems. We’re all feeling and seeing a lot these days and, there’s just an endless amount to process. This book, I felt, acknowledged and pointed a finger to some of them as a way of beginning to heal and keep going, all the while knowing we might get shot in the back again at any moment.

I’m definitely an amateur when it comes to poetry (but an enthusiastic one!), and I felt that lot of clever things were done with format and line breaks here, too, which raised this one up for me especially. Truly, I think the author did a great job here, and I’d like to read more of his work in the future. That is, if we all get to keep on going for a while. Here’s hoping.

Thank you NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for an ARC of this book!

This was a fast and though provoking collection of poems. One element I really enjoyed was a running narrative surrounding the poets venture to writing a book. This aspect of a narrative elevated the discussion surrounding race and culture.

Although this was a relatively quick read, I think this collection could have done with a few more poems, and a slow down in pace. Maybe it was the Kindle formatting, or the brevity of some of the lines, but many of the poems and pieces in this collection felt rushed.

Thanks NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company!

In a world of shitty poetry that's literally just,

"this is a sentence

followed by another sentence,

italicized text"

Duong's poems are a breath of fresh air to be sure. There wasn't a single bad apple of the bunch. They were all quite beautiful.

Something I could see people having a issue with is the repetition. However, in my opinion it's done to emphasize the messages and imagery. So this definitely didn't bother me here!

This was a spectacular debut collection. Some of the lines in these poems were deeply emotional. I enjoyed the way the author played with a variety of poem types, as well as used the shapes of the lines on the page as well.

What a surprising collection of poems! This book spoke directly to what I love so much about contemporary poetry. It is full of words and phrases that shape themselves into something beyond what they are. I absolutely loved the raw and unflinching way the author looks at certain topics. Very happy I read this one.