{"product_id":"a-cruelty-special-to-our-species-poems-isbn-9780062843685","title":"A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA piercing debut collection of poems exploring gender, race, and violence from a sensational new talent\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her arresting collection, urgently relevant for our times, poet Emily Jungmin Yoon confronts the histories of sexual violence against women, focusing in particular on Korean so-called “comfort women,” women who were forced into sexual labor in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn wrenching language, \u003cem\u003eA Cruelty Special to Our Species\u003c\/em\u003e unforgettably describes the brutalities of war and the fear and sorrow of those whose lives and bodies were swept up by a colonizing power, bringing powerful voice to an oppressed group of people whose histories have often been erased and overlooked. “What is a body in a stolen country,” Yoon asks. “What is right in war.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoving readers through time, space, and different cultures, and bringing vivid life to the testimonies and confessions of the victims,Yoon takes possession of a painful and shameful history even while unearthing moments of rare beauty in acts of resistance and resilience, and in the instinct to survive and bear witness. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA piercing debut collection of poems from a sensational new talent exploring gender, race, and violence\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her arresting collection, urgently relevant for our times, poet Emily Jungmin Yoon confronts the histories of sexual violence against women, focusing in particular on so-called comfort women, Korean women who worked in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn wrenching language, \u003cem\u003eA Cruelty Special to Our Species\u003c\/em\u003e unforgettably describes the brutalities of war and the fear and sorrow of those whose lives and bodies were swept up by a colonizing power, amplifying the voices of an oppressed group of people whose histories have often been erased and overlooked. “What is a body in a stolen country?” Yoon asks. “What is right in war?” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoving readers through time, space, and different cultures, and bringing vivid life to the testimonies and confessions of the victims, Yoon takes possession of a painful and shameful history even while unearthing moments of rare beauty in acts of resistance and resilience, and in the instinct to survive and bear witness.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“With searing witness and quietly prodigious song here is a volume that speaks sharp truths to those who would wish the forgetting of one of the darkest hours of humanity. A lovely, moving, and ultimately devastating book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChang-rae Lee\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Reaching back to a historical trauma well before her own time, Emily Jungmin Yoon finds language to convey its horror and violence—painfully and unsparingly, but somehow also with a delicacy, precision, and attention that does not impose the true (literal) brutality on the reader, which makes these poems all the more shocking and unforgettable. This is an engaging, urgent book by a writer we must listen to.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmy Tan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Emily Jungmin Yoon’s...un-erring lyrical sense, evident in all her poems, including these meditations on slavery and rape, allow her to transcend the limits of language itself. From her refusal of dismissive epiphany to the profound linguistic insights that underscore these rare searching poems, beauty occurs.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCarol Muske-Dukes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] deeply reverent debut collection. . . [Yoon] writes these poems in her second language, an English in which she takes mindful, absorbing residence while her ‘native tongue is a code’ that orchestrates with brimming precision what can be imagined, mourned, remembered, invented and haunted.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEleanor Chai\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The poems...are miracles of clarity and precision that are all the more miraculous because their strength, piercing lyricism, and transparent humanity never quaver or falter or step back for a second.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eVijay Seshadri\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A heart-wrenching debut...Yoon’s work is compelling in part because it shows the importance of understanding history and its enduring impact.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888500928741,"sku":"NP9780062843685","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062843685.jpg?v=1730229222","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/a-cruelty-special-to-our-species-poems-isbn-9780062843685","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}