Tag Archives: book review

review: ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW by nicole chung

maybe the current generation is more sensitive, empathetic, or generally informed. but when i was a korean girl growing up in the whitest, most wealthy part of a conservative state, girls would dismiss their “weird” sisters with the quip that “she’s the adopted one.” even though she clearly wasn’t, as if it were the worstContinue reading “review: ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW by nicole chung”

review: A TWENTY MINUTE SILENCE FOLLOWED BY APPLAUSE by shawn wen

This review was originally published at Plougshares on 8.15.17 Odd and delightful, A Twenty Minute Silence Followed By Applause is an artful character study, entertaining portrait, and comprehensive investigation of a great modern myth. full review here

review: STOMACHS by luna miguel (tr. luis silva)

This review was originally published at Ploughshares on 7.14.17 Let’s romanticize purple. Let’s use it when something is so maudlin that it becomes gaudy, to describe a thing that contains copious amounts of weltschmerz. Let’s have this consensus: purple is not the way you (should) want your work to be described. But there are times forContinue reading “review: STOMACHS by luna miguel (tr. luis silva)”

review: IN FULL VELVET by jenny johnson

This review was originally published at Ploughshares on 2/3/17  The trope with invoking the muses is that it is always a request. Whether it is pleading or demanding, pedantic or indignant, the epic tale is something owed. For her debut collection In Full Velvet, poet Jenny Johnson’s address begins with “Thank you,” and it isContinue reading “review: IN FULL VELVET by jenny johnson”