I’ve never read anything that is so beautifully written and so heart-wrenching at the same time. I would say this is the most beautiful writing of the ugliest of truths. I cried so many times, I lost count. It’s truly a modern masterpiece you shouldn’t skip out on.
There are lots of triggers – child abuse, domestic abuse, mental illness, racism, homophobia, bullying, drug abuse, overdosing, death, sexual content, etc. So please, proceed carefully.
I was transfixed by the way the author writes. They use so many literary devices to produce some kind of fluid story that goes through time, but not in a linear fashion. So we cover everything from the grandmother’s youth to her daughter’s life to Little Dog’s childhood and then adulthood. We don’t start from the beginning, nor do we cease at the end. We just flow from one moment to another, circling around, adding depth and emotional richness to each character. You should see how many times I highlighted something in the book – probably hundreds.
This book depicts perfectly how hard it is to be ‘other’. How impossible it is to belong. How no matter how much you suffer, there will be little relief, and then you’ll go back to square one. How you’ll run as fast as you can, only to end at the same place where you started. The book is full of darkness, it’s full of disturbing and sometimes even disgusting scenes. That’s why it’s so good when there is relief in the story, when there is a soft smile, a kind word. Those small moments balance the darkness out in a way that shows both sides of the coin – in life, there’s love and there’s hate, and we always get both, in equal or unequal measures, depending on who we are and where we live.
If all these events were written with normal prose, it would have been too ugly, too heavy, too… unmanageable. But because the writing is beautiful, you find relief in the words. To me, this is a deeply emotional journey. It reminded me of Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, not how it was written, but how much I wanted to cry at the end of every chapter because it wasn’t fair. Life isn’t fair, but it’s especially unfair to some of us. This young Vietnamese boy living in a harsh country, trying to find and reinvent himself constantly, while also trying to belong when life has taught him that he will never belong, is simply heart-breaking.
This is one of those books that are ‘hyped up’ for a very good reason. I would recommend it to anyone who loves beautiful writing and emotional journeys. Just mind the triggers and read this incredibly rich and masterful story. I really cannot give it less than 5 stars. Favorite of all time.
-Reviewed by Violeta Nedkova
