Book Review: Night Sky with Exit Wounds

A few days ago, I picked up a copy of Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong. This time, rather than ordering a physical copy, I got an e-book copy because I was disinclined to wait for shipping and I thought I might get around to it faster. Given I started it the minute I put it on my e-reader and finished it within two days, I'd say that decision paid off. It was my third read of 2022 and arguably my favorite, thus far. (This review revision was completed April 15, 2023.)

Rating: 4/5

Buy Night Sky With Exit Wounds Here.

Cover Blurb:

"In his haunting and fearless debut, Ocean Vuong walks a tightrope of historic and personal violences, creating an interrogation of the American body as a borderless space of both failure and triumph. At once vulnerable and redemptive, dreamlike and visceral, compassionate and unforgiving, these poems seek a myriad existence without forgetting the prerequisite of self-preservation in a world bent on extinguishing its othered voices. Vuong's poems show, through breath, cadence, and unrepentant enthrallment, that a gentle palm on a chest can calm the most necessary of hungers."

Review:

Here's a question:

How does one review poetry? What can be said that hasn't been said and that doesn't sound canned? Why is poetry so difficult to talk about, anyway?

This was a short book, but I think it would lose something if finished in just an hour or two. It was heavy. Vuong's writing is beautiful. His imagery was strong and the story he wove through this collection was intense, impactful, and sharp. There were so many lines that just sang. A number of these poems sought to uncover truths and understandings most often found alone in the dark. In short, they felt familiar.

My favorites, because I always have favorites in every poetry collection, were "Immigrant Haibun", "Notebook Fragments", and "Torso of Air".

Night Sky with Exit Wounds has won the T. S. Eliot prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize, and I think the reasons it is so beloved as a collection are rather apparent.

Comments

Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest

I received The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black for my birthday in 2019. Since it’s been sitting on my shelf for some time and I’m generally a fan of Holly Black’s work, I decided it was going to be my weekend read a while back. Suffice to say, it didn’t wind up being that and I have very mixed feelings about this book. Rating: 3/5 Buy The Darkest Part of the Forest . Cover Blurb: "Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in Fairfold, where humans and the Folk exist side by side. Since they were children, Hazel and Ben have been telling each other stories about the boy in the glass coffin: that he is a prince and they are valiant knights. But as Hazel grows up, she puts aside those stories. Hazel knows the horned boy will never wake. Until one day, he does .... Set in the same world as the bestselling Folk of the Air series ( The Cruel Prince , The Wicked King , and The Queen of Nothing ), The Darkest Part of the Forest is Holly Black's triumphant ...

Book Review: Wide Sargasso Sea

Before beginning this review in earnest, it should be noted that I have never read Jane Eyre . I watched part of one of the film adaptions, which came recommended as a decent historical romance film. I ceased my viewing experience, however, upon the reveal of the woman in the attic. At that point my perception of the film shifted from adequate-period-romance film, to ' Oh, it's a horror movie; I somehow missed that. ' And that's precisely when my interest in this book bloomed. Rating: 3.75/5 Buy Wide Sargasso Sea Here . Cover Blurb: " Wide Sargasso Sea , a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys' return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With Wide Sargasso Sea , her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction's most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre . This mes...

Book Review: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

Toward the end of February, I purchased an e-book copy of That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming because I was in a reading slump and many of the people in my reading network were touting it about as a really sweet, funny, cozy fantasy-romance book and that sounded like it might help me renew my interest in reading. Suffice to say, I probably should have done a bit more research before going into this one, because it definitely made my reading slump worse. Per usual, I can't rate a book I didn't finish reading, but let's talk about the reasons I put it down. Rating: DNF The copy I have reviewed below is no longer available for purchase. Blurb from Amazon: " All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn’t involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favorites. If so, I’m clearly not one of them. After saving the demon Fallon i...

Karabou Review

Search This Blog