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36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
An explosive, devastating debut book of poetry from the acclaimed author of The Boat
In his first international release since the award-winning, best-selling The Boat, Nam Le delivers a shot across the bow with a book-length poem that honors every convention of diasporic literature—in a virtuosic array of forms and registers—before shattering the form itself.
In line with the works of Claudia Rankine, Cathy Park Hong, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, this book is an urgent, unsettling reckoning with identity—and the violence of identity. For Le, a Vietnamese refugee in the West, this means the assumed violence of racism, oppression, and historical trauma.
But it also means the violence of that assumption. Of being always assumed to be outside one’s home, country, culture, or language. And the complex violence—for the diasporic writer who wants to address any of this—of language itself.
Making use of multiple tones, moods, masks, and camouflages, Le’s poetic debut moves with unpredictable and destabilizing energy between the personal and the political. As self-indicting as it is scathing, hilarious as it is desperately moving, this is a singular, breakthrough book.
In his first international release since the award-winning, best-selling The Boat, Nam Le delivers a shot across the bow with a book-length poem that honors every convention of diasporic literature—in a virtuosic array of forms and registers—before shattering the form itself.
In line with the works of Claudia Rankine, Cathy Park Hong, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, this book is an urgent, unsettling reckoning with identity—and the violence of identity. For Le, a Vietnamese refugee in the West, this means the assumed violence of racism, oppression, and historical trauma.
But it also means the violence of that assumption. Of being always assumed to be outside one’s home, country, culture, or language. And the complex violence—for the diasporic writer who wants to address any of this—of language itself.
Making use of multiple tones, moods, masks, and camouflages, Le’s poetic debut moves with unpredictable and destabilizing energy between the personal and the political. As self-indicting as it is scathing, hilarious as it is desperately moving, this is a singular, breakthrough book.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2024
33 people are currently reading
649 people want to read
About the author
Nam Le
26 books138 followersNam Le came to Australia from Vietnam with his parents, when he was less than a year old, as a boat refugee. He went to Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, from where he graduated with a BA (Hons) and LLB (Hons). His Arts thesis supervisor was the Australian poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe. He worked as a corporate lawyer and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2003/2004.
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
August 27, 2024
Poetry remains a difficult genre for me, however, I find I connect with most immigrant stories, especially those of the Vietnamese diaspora. Obviously, some of these hold more meaning for me than others, especially the one with lines such as "weird names," "slant or chink or nip or ching chong," "hide your dogs," and "exoticised, the girls." There is much more, but this one stood out to me the most.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf
March 9, 2024
TFW that guy from your MFA, dude you were in three of four workshops with, goes on to publish with a major prestigious NYC publisher a collection consisting solely of the stories he put up -- probably the best of which hinges on a scene from life involving you in somewhat different elevated form -- that goes on to win several awards (see The Boat) but then dude is nearly silent for 15+ years before publishing an 88-page hardcover collection of poems in a glossy dust-jacket from Knopf blurbed by a Nobel laureate, Nick Cave, and other luminaries. I don't read enough poetry, really, to effectively analyze these titrative analectics. Maybe it could be reduced to meta political identity formalism? A+ formal variation, A+ thematic elaboration. Dug the pages in mock slam voice, the flushing out of stereotypes, the "violence" of translation. I imagine this will be studied in schools. Single lingering impression: happy to have acquired this art object, hope it's well received, can't wait to see what my dude does once he puts the highbrow poesy aside and takes on the novel.
May 1, 2024
This was a very interesting collection of poems. I highly suggest listening to the audiobook while reading this book. The author narrates his own work, and it seems to be more impactful to listen to him speak his own words.
Thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of this book.
Thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of this book.
April 3, 2025
April is National Poetry Month in America so for the entire month, I plan to read nothing but poetry. First up this 36 Wars of Writing a Vietnamese Poem by Nam Le. I was drawn to this collection because I was interested in reading contemporary poets along with the classic poets who have left us. In reading this slim but deeply impactful collection of (technically) 37 poems, I was deeply impressed by Nam Le's skill here. This is my first time reading this poet and in this small collection, I got a peek into the experiences of those from the Vietnamese diaspora. As a Black American, I could relate to a lot of these poems but even in the parts where I didn't relate, I was able to clearly understand. This is a story of a people that is well articulated and equal parts beauty and wrath. These poems were exhilarating little vignettes of perfectly placed anger that resonated with anyone who could be described as an "other." I might bump up this rating in the future but for now, it's a strong 4.5.
May 22, 2024
"I say: The mouth is the
true soul’s window
seeing, taking in, disintegrating
in the eye of it all
the teeth of it all
cavity roiled by enzymes, acids,
keening spices betel blacking
enamel, the fatted lips —
shaping sloping meaning
working it real good.
Taking in latitudes longings
exhausting music, fallout food…
Mother country mother tongue
motherfuckers on the run
eat their words and white bread, son
earn your white man’s tongue."
This is often spectacular, as Le dances with words, deftly arranging and rearranging to provoke, intrigue, to confront and to reveal. Le plays with the ellipses in language as well as its precision. Many passages deploy the vocabularies of specialists (the ebook reader's dictionary got a workout) in gloriously committed to metaphors, which somehow still allow more interpretation and ambiguity to explore.
The volume is also laden with emotion. The language is far from frivilous but laden with a kind of anguish, anger, and passionate sense of the need to explain or explore. The volume also works to critique that constant push of perception onto the self. The violence of the repeated refrain evokes the sense of being constantly under siege, the emotion of being subject.
This volume has something to say, and the myriadic approach is part of it. In the last decade, much has been discussed about the need for a multiplicity of voices from any given culture to move beyond stereotypes. Le here presents us with a multiplicity of ways of seeing a single subject, self as well as idea, and in the process allows ferocity without flattening.
I had expected this to be challenging to understand from the reviews. I had not expected it to be this pleasurable to read, this dazzling in its wordplay. It is all the good things, maybe never plain and easy to get, but far more fun as a result.
true soul’s window
seeing, taking in, disintegrating
in the eye of it all
the teeth of it all
cavity roiled by enzymes, acids,
keening spices betel blacking
enamel, the fatted lips —
shaping sloping meaning
working it real good.
Taking in latitudes longings
exhausting music, fallout food…
Mother country mother tongue
motherfuckers on the run
eat their words and white bread, son
earn your white man’s tongue."
This is often spectacular, as Le dances with words, deftly arranging and rearranging to provoke, intrigue, to confront and to reveal. Le plays with the ellipses in language as well as its precision. Many passages deploy the vocabularies of specialists (the ebook reader's dictionary got a workout) in gloriously committed to metaphors, which somehow still allow more interpretation and ambiguity to explore.
The volume is also laden with emotion. The language is far from frivilous but laden with a kind of anguish, anger, and passionate sense of the need to explain or explore. The volume also works to critique that constant push of perception onto the self. The violence of the repeated refrain evokes the sense of being constantly under siege, the emotion of being subject.
This volume has something to say, and the myriadic approach is part of it. In the last decade, much has been discussed about the need for a multiplicity of voices from any given culture to move beyond stereotypes. Le here presents us with a multiplicity of ways of seeing a single subject, self as well as idea, and in the process allows ferocity without flattening.
I had expected this to be challenging to understand from the reviews. I had not expected it to be this pleasurable to read, this dazzling in its wordplay. It is all the good things, maybe never plain and easy to get, but far more fun as a result.
March 26, 2024
The poem [27: matri-immigral] will stay in my mind forever. This book as a collection is excellent but oh my god that one was all I needed to be convinced. The opening poem is stellar as well - 'what's vietnamese in me can fit in a poem' hit like a truck. Nam Le's command over language and rhythm is formidable.
April 6, 2024
Finished copy gifted by the publisher
I loved the ones I could interpret, even though that’s only like 10% 🤣
Reading this collection is more like appreciating abstract art. I often have no idea what it’s about but I appreciate its existence.
Poem #7 Violence: Paedo-affective is my favorite!
I loved the ones I could interpret, even though that’s only like 10% 🤣
Reading this collection is more like appreciating abstract art. I often have no idea what it’s about but I appreciate its existence.
Poem #7 Violence: Paedo-affective is my favorite!
January 19, 2025
4.5 stars
January 7, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley & Knopf for the ARC!
I found this collection of poetry to be very cleverly written. It draws heavily on the author's experiences of being of Vietnamese ethnicity while growing up in Western society. Touching upon the tragedies lived through by his elders, and how his life has been shaped alongside the repercussions of the war. Nam Le explores the instabilities of language, and encourages the reader to engage more deeply with the topics at hand. Making the reader put themselves in the author's shoes and experience the plights of those effected by the war.
I enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it.
I found this collection of poetry to be very cleverly written. It draws heavily on the author's experiences of being of Vietnamese ethnicity while growing up in Western society. Touching upon the tragedies lived through by his elders, and how his life has been shaped alongside the repercussions of the war. Nam Le explores the instabilities of language, and encourages the reader to engage more deeply with the topics at hand. Making the reader put themselves in the author's shoes and experience the plights of those effected by the war.
I enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it.
December 4, 2024
This was an interesting format for a poetry collection. I appreciated a surrounding theme or list way of setting it out.
I listened to the audiobook and I think it was great to hear the poet narrate it the way they deemed most suitable. There were points though when images would have been in the poetry and I feel like seeing them and the way these poems were structured would have added value to my reading experience.
I personally couldn't relate to many of these poems but I liked how it explored and showed concepts outside of my own perspective, like race and diaspora. It was a confronting and short poetry collection to listen to and I think I would get more out of reading the physical poems.
I listened to the audiobook and I think it was great to hear the poet narrate it the way they deemed most suitable. There were points though when images would have been in the poetry and I feel like seeing them and the way these poems were structured would have added value to my reading experience.
I personally couldn't relate to many of these poems but I liked how it explored and showed concepts outside of my own perspective, like race and diaspora. It was a confronting and short poetry collection to listen to and I think I would get more out of reading the physical poems.
December 12, 2023
Nam Le's "36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem" is a captivating collection that delves into the complexities of post-war immigration and intergenerational trauma. The poems, concise yet rich, are ideal for teaching and creative writing. The collection grapples with the challenges of self and language, emphasizing the violent nature of translation. Nam Le skillfully explores the instability of language, rejecting straightforward interpretations and encouraging readers to engage deeply. The poems address issues like exoticization and the inherent violence in language, providing a compelling and stimulating reading experience.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for my eARC. All thoughts were my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for my eARC. All thoughts were my own.
December 15, 2023
This is a clever collection of poems, lighthearted in places but raw and incensed in others. (A pacing that I appreciate in poetry collections.) The collection draws heavily on the author's experience being of Vietnamese ethnicity while growing up in the West. It touches upon the tragedies lived by his elders, but, more so, how his life (and perception of him) has been shaped by war and the diaspora it caused. The collection playfully engages with language and cultural concepts in a way that is interesting and - at times - scintillating.
My main gripe with this collection would be its occasional swerves into the domain of huge, rare, and super-specialized terminology. I enjoy being sent to the dictionary as much as the next person, but in a poetry collection - where evoking emotion is the name of the game - I find it takes me out of the experience.
I enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it for poetry readers.
My main gripe with this collection would be its occasional swerves into the domain of huge, rare, and super-specialized terminology. I enjoy being sent to the dictionary as much as the next person, but in a poetry collection - where evoking emotion is the name of the game - I find it takes me out of the experience.
I enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it for poetry readers.
February 11, 2024
4.5/5 - Thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for the ARC!
What a gorgeous gut-punch of a collection.
In this debut collection from Nam Le, the reader is invited to witness violence: of immigration; assimilation; translation; oppression; decades of war and generational trauma. Through a variety of forms and modes (and sometimes, poetic gimmicks), Le masterfully blends passion, heartbreak, and fury.
As a Western reader, reading this collection is an immersive experience. I don't pretend to understand every reference or metaphor. But I think overall that's rather unimportant, because a) why should I be the intended reader here and b) the flow of emotions and images weaving through these poems is powerful and worth attention. And we all benefit from stepping into something more expansive than our own lived experiences and histories—from being quiet and listening, for a change. How else can we get closer to true understanding?
What a gorgeous gut-punch of a collection.
In this debut collection from Nam Le, the reader is invited to witness violence: of immigration; assimilation; translation; oppression; decades of war and generational trauma. Through a variety of forms and modes (and sometimes, poetic gimmicks), Le masterfully blends passion, heartbreak, and fury.
As a Western reader, reading this collection is an immersive experience. I don't pretend to understand every reference or metaphor. But I think overall that's rather unimportant, because a) why should I be the intended reader here and b) the flow of emotions and images weaving through these poems is powerful and worth attention. And we all benefit from stepping into something more expansive than our own lived experiences and histories—from being quiet and listening, for a change. How else can we get closer to true understanding?
"I say: the mouth is the true / soul's window / seeing, taking in, disintegrating / in the eye of it all / the teeth of it all / cavity roiled by enzymes, acids, / keening spices betel blacking / enamel, the fatted lips — / shaping sloping meaning." - [19. Oral-metaphorical]
January 11, 2024
This poetry collection comes out in 2024, 16 years after Nam Le's first book, a short story collection, was published. I don't know what was going on during those years, but I always find those long publishing breaks fascinating.
Anyhow, although I read poetry somewhat randomly to begin with, compared to how I read novels, I doubt this one would have crossed my path had NetGalley and Knopf not sent out an email inviting me to choose from upcoming collections. It wasn't an easy choice, because none of the five really stood out to me on the surface, but I chose Nam Le's collection because it was different and I don't know much about the Vietnamese experience. I had assumed he lived in the US, because that's the kind of assumption I make as an American, but he grew up in Australia, where his parents emigrated to when he was one.
These poems, which are sometimes light and sometimes very heavy, address the experiences of living somewhat between two cultures, one of which doesn't respect, or even acknowledge, the ways of the other. These poems touch on a lot of topics I don't give much thought to, such as numerology (there's an entire poem about numerology that has stuck with me). The sense of being once removed (literally removed) from Vietnam comes through, with all kinds of complicated feelings that go along with that.
There is a lot of wordplay, new words, new uses of words, words poking at themselves questioningly, bringing new layers of meaning and developing the existing meanings. I love to see language evolving. These would be good poems to study with others - I would benefit from talking about these with people more knowledgeable than myself, but at the same time, I feel like I got plenty out of them on my own, enough to make it worthwhile, but it's a good thing when there's still more to get.
Thanks to NetGalley & Knopf for the ARC!
Anyhow, although I read poetry somewhat randomly to begin with, compared to how I read novels, I doubt this one would have crossed my path had NetGalley and Knopf not sent out an email inviting me to choose from upcoming collections. It wasn't an easy choice, because none of the five really stood out to me on the surface, but I chose Nam Le's collection because it was different and I don't know much about the Vietnamese experience. I had assumed he lived in the US, because that's the kind of assumption I make as an American, but he grew up in Australia, where his parents emigrated to when he was one.
These poems, which are sometimes light and sometimes very heavy, address the experiences of living somewhat between two cultures, one of which doesn't respect, or even acknowledge, the ways of the other. These poems touch on a lot of topics I don't give much thought to, such as numerology (there's an entire poem about numerology that has stuck with me). The sense of being once removed (literally removed) from Vietnam comes through, with all kinds of complicated feelings that go along with that.
There is a lot of wordplay, new words, new uses of words, words poking at themselves questioningly, bringing new layers of meaning and developing the existing meanings. I love to see language evolving. These would be good poems to study with others - I would benefit from talking about these with people more knowledgeable than myself, but at the same time, I feel like I got plenty out of them on my own, enough to make it worthwhile, but it's a good thing when there's still more to get.
Thanks to NetGalley & Knopf for the ARC!
Read
April 10, 2024When I read the title, I thought it was kind of a self help book about.writing poetry. I think I was wrong about that. The book itself was good and new to me. Different poetry to read and I liked it. A little bit weird for me but still good. Confusing for me but I.worked around that. To read this book I had to really read it to understand it. But like I said, I liked it just need a different kind d of mindset.
I received a free copy of the book and it voluntarily writing a review
I received a free copy of the book and it voluntarily writing a review
December 25, 2025
4.75 ~
Even though it’s not a 5, I want to rate it five stars because this was phenomenal. I think this was so ingenious and creative and exactly what I want to read in poetry.
Experimental and personal and just so confusing to me. Even if I did not know half of what poems said, I loved it. I didn’t have to get it and when it undermined my vocabulary I just knew I could learn and reread this.
So beautiful in the most perplexing way. Idk, it was inventive and fun!
Even though it’s not a 5, I want to rate it five stars because this was phenomenal. I think this was so ingenious and creative and exactly what I want to read in poetry.
Experimental and personal and just so confusing to me. Even if I did not know half of what poems said, I loved it. I didn’t have to get it and when it undermined my vocabulary I just knew I could learn and reread this.
So beautiful in the most perplexing way. Idk, it was inventive and fun!
December 16, 2024
Some of these poems I really liked. Most I was ambivalent about. Some of the more loose form ones I didn't really understand, but I liked the different styles he presented across the book. I think I would've really liked an author's note (poet's note?) giving an introduction to the book.
July 28, 2024
The use of language and the study of it is so interesting in this collection. There are some pieces that elude me but they are effective nonetheless. Stunning.
September 16, 2024
Experienced a powerful session with Nam Le at this year's Brisbane Writers' Festival, then read this extraordinary collection immediately after. Cannot recommend it more highly.
December 30, 2024
It's rare that I read a collection where every poem impacts me, but this is one of them. Just excellence from start to end.
January 25, 2025
Beautiful. Review to come.
Read
June 8, 2025powerful.
June 15, 2024
diasporic literature that challenges my very notions of thinking !!
November 24, 2024
What a gem. I did not know how much I needed diasporic poems until now.
(The violence of translation)
(The violence of translation)
February 13, 2024
Very complex and extremely passionate and clever.
January 13, 2025
Seriously, who can imagine.
Your own experience.
Thank you for letting us
look into your world.
”Respect ghosts and spirits,
but keep them at a distance …
Or don’t.”
Your own experience.
Thank you for letting us
look into your world.
”Respect ghosts and spirits,
but keep them at a distance …
Or don’t.”
December 30, 2024
I was fortunate enough to study "Love and Honour and Pride and Pity and Compassion and Sacrifice" as part of my HSC in 2019. I was unfortunate enough to buy into the hype and purchase this collection (every time I drop my cynicism/scepticism, I am invariably disappointed), which essentially repeats the talking points of that masterful and moving story but so rarely with the same heart. Here, the tone is extremely academic, which is almost admirable (given how so many modern poets entirely neglect formal and thematic/philosophical demands and focus too heavily on immediacy), but it winds up leaving most works feeling cold (the cerebral never being embedded in the visceral like all the best works of art), or, more accurately, anaesthetised (since no feeling, not even one of coldness or discomfort, is the most common impression left). It's a shame, since the few that do give into the palpable and genuine anger or Le are quite effective, but their full power is robbed by the other works that surround them (even making their anger unfortunately seem too performative and studied, which it obviously isn't given Le's background).
Moreover, this strongly academic tone undercuts much of the messaging. It's almost hilarious how so many of these poems complain about the hegemony of Western language/audiences on artists (which aren't invalid points at all), yet rely on invocations of complex philosophical/academic concepts and obscure words and phrases as well as obfuscatory layouts. How is poetry like this meant to be transformative or deliver constructive results when it makes itself Most of the poems flew over my head even when I did have to look up a word or term (which was quite often, and this is someone who, whilst light years from being an expert, is pretty well-versed in philosophy and English), though I wasn't overly bothered as the majority I was able to decipher simply repeated talking points other writers/academics have explored elsewhere. Some of Le's argumentation is also pretty questionable; I simply don't see his issue with English becoming such a dominant force in the world. It's growth does reflect tragedy at the hands of abhorrent colonists/genocidal maniacs, and it situates many writers of non-English/mixed heritage backgrounds in frustrating positions to best express themselves publicly, but I don't see what we can really do to stop this, even with making efforts to preserve other languages, and Le never really offers one suggestion either (not that writers always have to offer solutions, but when the work is so unapologetically intellectual and concerned with well-trodden talking points, I think it does behoove it to bandy about the odd solution). And whilst I like how he briefly explores Vietnamese and other language's unique strengths over the rigidity of English, his use of form is sometimes too freewheeling that it never properly demonstrates these points. And this another core reason the collection annoyed me so profoundly: it comes off as sophistic effort due to its superficial concerns with intellectual argumentation but its use of poetry's emotional focus/formal experimentation to convince the reader of their novelty and sophistication/profundity, even when the enjambment is often arbitrary or anaemic, since saying that it's dissonant would be to imply that it often generates any feeling in the reader. Also, it's an academic, postmodern work that rarely features memorable structures or phrases/enjambment, which is an issue when imagery is so often being jettisoned (which itself is an issue when Le demonstrates he is so good at crafting an effective image, such as with the tongue poem). Thus, it doesn't even fulfil its academic or postmodern aspirations. Eventually, it became grating due to its confidence and apparent flaws generating a horribly self-satisfied tone, which isn't helped by the constant "ha ha" interjections or the lack of its own formal control, where many of the poems fail to capitalise on their own forms to deepen their meanings beyond hammering in the same conclusion of language's unreliability or a desire to destroy the English language).
It's a work that tragically reeks of a writer who is out of ideas (thematic ideas, as there is the occasional poem that is formally inspired here), and, to me, tells a cautionary story of becoming overly caught up in/sequestered in the closed-off feedback-loop that is the writing MFA/university philosophy world.
It will send you to a dictionary many times but will never send you to your own heart and will rarely send you to a new place of thinking.
2/10.
Moreover, this strongly academic tone undercuts much of the messaging. It's almost hilarious how so many of these poems complain about the hegemony of Western language/audiences on artists (which aren't invalid points at all), yet rely on invocations of complex philosophical/academic concepts and obscure words and phrases as well as obfuscatory layouts. How is poetry like this meant to be transformative or deliver constructive results when it makes itself Most of the poems flew over my head even when I did have to look up a word or term (which was quite often, and this is someone who, whilst light years from being an expert, is pretty well-versed in philosophy and English), though I wasn't overly bothered as the majority I was able to decipher simply repeated talking points other writers/academics have explored elsewhere. Some of Le's argumentation is also pretty questionable; I simply don't see his issue with English becoming such a dominant force in the world. It's growth does reflect tragedy at the hands of abhorrent colonists/genocidal maniacs, and it situates many writers of non-English/mixed heritage backgrounds in frustrating positions to best express themselves publicly, but I don't see what we can really do to stop this, even with making efforts to preserve other languages, and Le never really offers one suggestion either (not that writers always have to offer solutions, but when the work is so unapologetically intellectual and concerned with well-trodden talking points, I think it does behoove it to bandy about the odd solution). And whilst I like how he briefly explores Vietnamese and other language's unique strengths over the rigidity of English, his use of form is sometimes too freewheeling that it never properly demonstrates these points. And this another core reason the collection annoyed me so profoundly: it comes off as sophistic effort due to its superficial concerns with intellectual argumentation but its use of poetry's emotional focus/formal experimentation to convince the reader of their novelty and sophistication/profundity, even when the enjambment is often arbitrary or anaemic, since saying that it's dissonant would be to imply that it often generates any feeling in the reader. Also, it's an academic, postmodern work that rarely features memorable structures or phrases/enjambment, which is an issue when imagery is so often being jettisoned (which itself is an issue when Le demonstrates he is so good at crafting an effective image, such as with the tongue poem). Thus, it doesn't even fulfil its academic or postmodern aspirations. Eventually, it became grating due to its confidence and apparent flaws generating a horribly self-satisfied tone, which isn't helped by the constant "ha ha" interjections or the lack of its own formal control, where many of the poems fail to capitalise on their own forms to deepen their meanings beyond hammering in the same conclusion of language's unreliability or a desire to destroy the English language).
It's a work that tragically reeks of a writer who is out of ideas (thematic ideas, as there is the occasional poem that is formally inspired here), and, to me, tells a cautionary story of becoming overly caught up in/sequestered in the closed-off feedback-loop that is the writing MFA/university philosophy world.
It will send you to a dictionary many times but will never send you to your own heart and will rarely send you to a new place of thinking.
2/10.
October 20, 2024
The most impactful poetry collection I have read in years.
December 15, 2023
There is a curse hanging over every Bridge baby boy who is born. Any of those Bridges might fall back. This is what has happened to Millie's brother Isaiah, we think. What an awful curse. It's like the killings of every two year old who was an Israelite. This is beyond sad. One can hope there is a way to compromise, or are my thoughts too pessimistic? Oh my, I can only cry wet tears if this could happen in my family. While reading this Historical Fiction book, your book enthusiasm will grow larger than it already is in and you might become more protective of the boys in your family.
April 12, 2024
Nam Le's first book of poems is formally wide-ranging, incorporating erasure, ekphrasis, and offertory. He writes boldly about the Vietnamese diaspora, about the "violence of translation," and about the generational impacts of oppression and historical trauma. His poetic voice is fierce and varied, from the measured, calculated "arithmetical" to the bold "slam declension." With this book, Le cements his legacy as a daring and innovative writer. I am grateful to Knopf for the review copy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews