Hardly War

Reviews / Votes

Choi's use of hybrid forms poetry, memoir, opera libretto, images and artifacts from her father's -career as a photojournalist in the Korean and Vietnam Wars--lets her explore themes of injustice and empire, history and identity, sifting through the detritus of family, translation, propaganda and dislocation. Kathleen Rooney, The New York Times Sunday Book Review Playful and complex...Choi's poetry operates within a tradition of Korean-American experimental poets that includes Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Myung Mi Kim. Choi's zany take on militarism and the Korean diaspora may seem absurdist, but it is an inventive and daring waltz that upends what is commonly understood as the 'Forgotten War.' Publishers Weekly While imperial history relishes mythmaking and triumphalism at the expense of the human and psychological costs of war, Choi revels in history's untold spaces. Lizzie Tribone, BOMB This book's sort of rogue clarity hinges on the poet's relationship with her father. Essentially, we experience the destabilizing effects of US-ROK entanglement as coherent because this relationship sutures time and space. His award-winning photographs of the war suffuse the pages. Caitie Moore, The Poetry Project Newsletter