Night Sky with Exit Wounds

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Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Vuong book).png
First edition cover
Author Ocean Vuong
LanguageEnglish
GenrePoetry
Publisher Copper Canyon Press
Publication date
April 5, 2016
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages89
Awards2017 T. S. Eliot Prize
ISBN 978-1-55659-495-3
811/.6
LC Class PS3622.U96 A6 2016

Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a 2016 collection of poetry by Vietnamese American poet and essayist Ocean Vuong. [1] The book won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2017, [2] and Whiting Award in 2016. [3]

Content

Vuong and his family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when he was two years old. Many of the poems in the collection take the Vietnam War as their subject, including "Aubade With Burning City" which deals with the Fall of Saigon. [1] "Untitled (Blue, Green, and Brown)", named for a Mark Rothko painting, is about the 9/11 attacks and Vuong's experience that day. [4]

The Los Angeles Review of Books wrote: "But for all his laments, Vuong holds out hope for a life that isn’t defined by fear." [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 Kakutani, Michiko (9 May 2016). "Review: 'Night Sky With Exit Wounds,' Verses From Ocean Vuong". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  2. Harriet Staff (15 January 2018). "Ocean Vuong Wins T.S. Eliot Prize". Poetry Foundation . Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. Christensen, Dusty (16 January 2018). "Florence poet wins prestigious prize". Daily Hampshire Gazette . Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  4. Kellaway, Kate (9 May 2017). "Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong review – violence, delicacy and timeless imagery". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  5. Lopez, Dan. "Recuperating Exile: Ocean Vuong's "Night Sky With Exit Wounds"". The Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 26 June 2024.