Ghost Of (Omnidawn Open)

This is one of the most incredible books I've ever read. The way it experiments with form. How it explores absence and how we might fill the missing (how we can't). The impossibility of grief. It is a book that stays with you, a book that crawls inside your body. It is devastating and profound, and I cannot recommend it enough.

In Ghost Of a metaphorical haunting looms ominously over a family undone by suicide. Nguyen's poems are elastically surreal and innovative, seamlessly incorporating unique visual elements. This is a remarkable book that demonstrates in multiple ways the transformative and lasting effects of grief.

Experimental and emotive. Very glad I bought this book.

dəˈpreSH(ə)n

Beautiful book one of my new favorites

This is an intriguing little book with some of the most varied styles and literary experiments I have ever seen pulled together in a single author's collection. The main theme springs from the author's deep feelings for a brother who died young. He left a hole in her life illustrated visually by pictures with figures cut out and poems with gaps in the lines. The Vietnamese was and the migration of the author's family also come up as themes. The author sometimes talks to us directly and sometimes regales us with impenetrable metaphor. Interestingly, I could not figure out when or how the brother died.

Her words reach a part of me that I didn't even know existed. The words, the phrases, make you think she has been reading your mind. Diane is a fascinating and complex writer. You don't know exactly what to predict at times, which makes the reading that much more fascinating. I love this book. Diane's sayings, and the imagery in her words are strikingly similar image of my own world growing up after witnessing so much of life struggles in my own parents lives. I highly recommend his book. After reading the book, I can see why Diane had to write such odd poetry, just to be able convey such her complex life and the lives her siblings'. She's such a gifted writer. Hope to be able to get her autograph when she's back in California. I am thinking of giving some of these books to friends at work, and fannily members. It's a unique book of poetry. After graduating from college I collected some poetry but this has got to be a great addition to anyone's collection, no doubt! Can't wait for more. Great job Diane!

Diana Khoi Nguyen's "Ghost of" is surreal, elliptical, and haunting: Nguyen doesn't just write an elegy, but takes one into the forms and headspace of mourning. Nguyen's experience as a multi-media artist leads her to incorporate analogous and concrete forms through the text, creating formal representations of lack and haunting that pair very well with her expressionistic and surreal texts. Furthermore, Nguyen's invocation of the Vietnam War and her family's inheritance as refugees contextualizing both her personal loss and the way this reflects on historical grief. Strong recommendation.

Breathtaking. Experimental but a piece of art.