Scan barcode
jesshooves's review against another edition
“Vietnamese people have always been spoken word poets. / How you say it / is as important to the life of the word / as the word itself.”
—From poem “Say What?”
—From poem “Say What?”
eloise_krabbenhoft's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
dillarhonda's review against another edition
Thousand Star Hotel, the latest poetry collection by Bao Phi explores his Vietnamese heritage and his experience of racism in America. Phi’s poems grapple with the complicated legacy of the Vietnam War as it has impacted generations of Vietnamese Americans. I appreciate Phi’s use of contemporary references (hello Star Wars) but some of his poems devolve into tired clichés and unnuanced anger. Rather than sink his efforts into making us see racism with new eyes, Phi often re-presents the ugly bits we’ve become all too familiar with. I much prefer his descriptions of his daughter, of his fear of fatherhood, and his trepidation about the fate of future generations; it’s Phi at his most vulnerable, most naked. In his final poem “Refugerequiem” he encapsulates the horror of the Vietnam War in an image of his daughter chasing him around the dining room table; her eyes “seeing everything behind me.”
kiramke's review against another edition
4.0
Really liked it. Some very moving and powerful poems, and a perspective I don't get much access to.
clumsypenguin's review against another edition
4.0
My own distaste for poetry is mostly due to my own impression of the medium being entirely formed via Atticus poems, and as such I’ve never really “got” what was so great about it. This, however, is getting me to actually understand the potential of it (wow, who knew poetry about an actual meaningful subject would be worth reading?). Phi has crafted some gorgeous works about his own experience growing up as a poor Asian-American, and how that upbringing has affected his own insecurities and fears regarding bringing up his own child. He has a lot to say about the very understandable concerns he has about how to even raise his own daughter and teach her how to survive. While I still don’t really understand poetry (and am sure that 90% of the intended meaning from Phi is still going over my head), I’m eager to check out more of his work.
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
5.0
The lines are long and my mom insists
that the final amount is wrong.
The cashier looks at the receipt and insists that it's right.
My mom purses her lips, looks worried,
says, it's not right.
The line of white people behind us groans.
My mom won't look back at them.
We both know what they're thinking
Small woman with no knowledge of the way
things are in America.
Though year after year
she makes flowers bloom in the hood,
petals in the face of this land
that doesn't want her here.
Finally a manager comes, checks, and tells the cashier
she rang up twenty-two plants instead of just twom,
overcharging us by forty dollars.
My mother holds my hand
leads me away
without looking back
at the line of white people
who overhear
and gasp,
their sympathy won.
If only I was old enough
to tell them to keep it;
it's not my mom's English
that is broken.
--Frank's Nursery and Crafts
Loved the prose poetry in many of these poems, and the storytelling quality. Bao Phi themes many of the works around Asian American poverty and experiences both in childhood and adulthood. It was a masterful collection, and one I will likely go back to read over. A late read in the year, but definitely adding it to one of my 2017 favorites.
midnightverde's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I learned about this poet after reading one of Bao Phi’s poems in a different poetry book, Ink Knows No Borders Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. As I was reading this book l was so grateful to have found it. The poems are powerful and I enjoy feeling connected to the stories of others because reading helps me maintain my humanity and helps me feel whole. Certain poems spoke to me and others I reread a couple times and wondered if I really understood the message, though that’s not a bad thing in my experience. I’m going to continue reading poetry and work on embracing the journey. I recommend this book to those who like poetry and those who care about improving themselves through reflection and understanding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Police brutality, Bullying, Racism, and Racial slurs
8amtrain's review against another edition
5.0
!!!
p. 93: Mouse, when you creep out from under the place I must assume you've always known, what do you see? Someone who is doing his best, and if you are patient, you get what he gets? Or someone who inhabits a space you'd rather have all to yourself? I am trying to see things your way. There are all these little spaces that make us into who we are, and sometimes I can't breathe when I feel stuck. I think of stars and ocean waves, mouse: these things that are bigger than me, and can't be bothered to care.
p. 93: Mouse, when you creep out from under the place I must assume you've always known, what do you see? Someone who is doing his best, and if you are patient, you get what he gets? Or someone who inhabits a space you'd rather have all to yourself? I am trying to see things your way. There are all these little spaces that make us into who we are, and sometimes I can't breathe when I feel stuck. I think of stars and ocean waves, mouse: these things that are bigger than me, and can't be bothered to care.
howard's review
this really wasn't for me. i wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for class. i can totally see how someone else would like it but it did less than nothing for me.