The Last to the Party

by Chuqiao Yang

In this highly anticipated and deeply moving debut, Chuqiao Yang explores family, culture, diaspora, and the self’s tectonic shifts over time. Yang’s poems journey restlessly through recollections of a Saskatchewan childhood, trips to visit family in Taiyuan, and a sojourn across the American South in search of the moments and places where one became a stranger to oneself. “You are a mouse in the backcountry of your memories,” writes Yang, “You are a fox in winter, devouring well-meaning friends.” Irreverent, fierce, and ceaselessly surprising, The Last to the Party marks the arrival of a unique voice and an unsparing poetic vision.

Genres: Poetry

108 pages, Paperback

Published April 2, 2024

Reviews

[Liza_lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not normally a poetry person so maybe I'm the wrong person to review this book. Or maybe the exact right person. I was gifted this and picked it up on a total whim and was sucked in.

Yang's poems are beautiful with stark clear language that is abrupt and evocative. The Last to the Party is organized into 5 parts and those parts are loosely organized by age with the early poems focusing more on parental/child relationships and the final ones focusing on later life including marriage and older relatives. She also brings up racism, growing up as a third culture kid, and being an artist in a family of scientists. It's thematically rich is what I'm saying.

The earliest poems, focused on a father-daughter were particularly poignant to me. The line I'll probably take with me though is:

My mother's heart doesn't beat to stay alive,
it beats to keep pace for everyone else.

[Jelena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that had me remembering and reassembling treasured memories while clarifying my emotional and moral compass. A pleasure to read

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my review online at Canthius

[Carliny · Rating 2 out of 5]

“And my future is bright, and my future is good, and I am earning the forgiveness I deserve as I continue to say hello and goodbye, to enough people to fill the ocean of my life”.