Lisa Ray Instagram – Repost from @ezarawrites using @RepostRegramApp – Like so many of you, I’ve been following Vietnamese-American @ocean_vuong ‘s work for some time, ever since he was first recognised (somewhat obsessively) by America as this burning poetic talent. I wasn’t sure I was going to read this, then @lisaraniray said, “It’s stunning but at times so intense I have to put it aside…” That interested me. Later when I was in the middle of it, and putting it down from time to time, she said this – “It just ripped into my marrow, some passages, I feel the need to forget.” Yes. But you won’t be able to. The book is one long letter from Little Dog (presumably Ocean himself) to his all but illiterate mother. This is a new immigrant story, it is a war story, it is a gay story, this is a new genre altogether – blending autobiography with poetry with novel. A soul searching/ journey-of-the-self novel that hurts and hurts. And then through the pain something is birthed, something is freed. It is continuously shocking that Vuong is as young as he is. Roxane Gay’s review of the book said two things I agree with so will include them here – “He writes sex better than almost anyone out there,” and “As I got deeper into the novel I kept wanting a clearer sense of where the story was going.” That said, I would still give it a 5/5.