There's something precious and delicate about reading a collection of stories handpicked by a group of high school students from a basement in California. The stories spanning from a comic about butts to a heartwrenching story of foster care, might not always be the best or hold your interest. But the intent is captivating in and of itself.

I was not prepared for the length of this book (did anyone edit it at all?) or the microscopic detail it was gonna go into, but I did appreciate Huang's honesty and grit.

Robin Coste Lewis has a beautiful, full voice and she uses it to make Voyage of the Sable Venus sing. The last two poems in particular were, for me, the most powerful in the way they created negative space and complicated the black southern narrative.

Gorgeous, haunting and timely.
"you know how a bomb crater can be a swimming hole.
You know that dark blood is better than bright.
You know that mothers, sisters and classmates can be found between narrow slabs of concrete."

Beneba Clarke travels the world in this diasporic collection, tracing the past and future of various immigration narrative within and outside of Australia. Each short story is completely different which is disorientating. At the end, she breaks the fourth wall completely which is incredible.