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POLO
We’re all dolls that crack. Very rarely is a book so unabashed about obsession and growing pains. The boundaries of the prurient are dysregulated. Jinnwoo’s POLO is a stark, spartan narrative of extracorporeal longing, of alienation from the self. It taps into something intimate and molten that boils you alive. A courageous, droll confrontation of sexual adventure and abuse, unafraid of idiosyncrasy or obscenity. It is tender and punchy, featuring an unforgettable, commanding voice teeming with violent rage curling into wisdom. There are no easy categories, no premeditated salves, just reality in all its unforgiving clarity and ambivalence. An unbridled joy, a small book as silver bullet forged to penetrate and detonate. There is so much space to grow from these savage and sobering lines. Its wit and brevity belies a warm depth and astute x-ray of its subjects. POLO explores a codependent relationship like no other novella has, implicating you astride their twin-like interplay like a hard habit. Its impression is not easily shook off. Its meditation on deviance is profoundly once-in-a-lifetime.
148 pages, Paperback
Published November 25, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 17, 2023
Excellent. 🖤 More to follow soon…
Updated review posted on Bookstagram:
In short, this is extraordinary. One of the best pieces of queer contemporary writing I’ve read this year.
If you’re a fan of writers like Thomas Moore, Christopher Zeischegg or New Juche then I think you’ll love this.
Written through the eyes of a 9 yr old boy, Polo is a seemly innocent coming-of-age/voyage of discovery tale, but with some pretty dark undertones.
The voicing of the 9 yr old protagonist and his 8 yr old friend is perfect throughout. The innocence of the characters mixed with their natural desire to discover life, but then how this is exploited by older teenagers is beautifully, and often shockingly, conveyed.
This is the first of Jinnwoo’s work that I’ve read, and he is clearly a writing talent to watch.
Highly recommend.
Updated review posted on Bookstagram:
In short, this is extraordinary. One of the best pieces of queer contemporary writing I’ve read this year.
If you’re a fan of writers like Thomas Moore, Christopher Zeischegg or New Juche then I think you’ll love this.
Written through the eyes of a 9 yr old boy, Polo is a seemly innocent coming-of-age/voyage of discovery tale, but with some pretty dark undertones.
The voicing of the 9 yr old protagonist and his 8 yr old friend is perfect throughout. The innocence of the characters mixed with their natural desire to discover life, but then how this is exploited by older teenagers is beautifully, and often shockingly, conveyed.
This is the first of Jinnwoo’s work that I’ve read, and he is clearly a writing talent to watch.
Highly recommend.
August 24, 2023
Really wonderful presentation of child-epistemology, where *incidental details* richly richly develop 90s poverty town UK and canonical gay psychology, and not to mention how relationships come and go and conditions are as they are Just Because. Thus one ends up with a highly ambient fairy tale love story that Spoiler Alert gets totally disturbed by ~anachronisms at the end… risky move, one doesn’t need to hammer in the yearning or nostalgia so explicitly w such strategies, but I reckon I also like how it smashes away the childishness that the novel could have ended w, stamps that sad(?) horny(?) haunted(?) summer ambience away for good. Made me think of Edouard Louis but Jinnwoo doesn’t seem resentful or politically motivated per se, which makes for a more emotionally vibrant experience imo.
December 23, 2022
One of my favourite reads of 2022
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews