by Ocean Vuong
First published 2016
A young Vietnamese man navigates the aftermath of war. Fragments of memory and desire collide in vivid, tactile poems. He grapples with his identity, family trauma, and the ache of dislocation. But within the pain, there is a quiet resilience—a search for home, for connection, for what endures.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, poetry, biography-memoir, 21st-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, grappling-with-identity
Period: 21st Century
70 pages · Paperback · Copper Canyon Press
Content warnings: war