Product Description
Ishle Park's debut collection of poetry heralds the arrival of an exciting, vital new voice in poetry. In The Temperature of This Water, Park samples the climates of Rikers Island and Cheju Island, New York and Korea, to present an unflinching, meticulously detailed view of lives cracked open as much by love as they are by overwork, violence, and racism. Sharp street wit and a sensual attention to detail give vivid, palpable form to the lovers and criminals, mothers and gangsters who live behind the closed doors of New York immigrant life. Within each poem lies a story; within each story lies a whole community waiting to be uncovered. Whether tracing the paths of prisoners meeting girlfriends or Korean comfort women or .44s shot from rooftops in Brooklyn, Park's passion and uncompromising honesty lay bare the ruined heart of a city still pulsing with light. By Ishle Park. Paperback, 5.5 x 7 in./96 pgs / 0 color 0 BW0 duotone 0 ~ Item D20171

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 10 reviews)

Okay by reader (Portland, OR USA)

3 Stars
May 18, 2007
This book was okay. I too was taken into the hype by her appearance on Def Poetry Jam, her status as Poet Laureate, and just the general excitement over supporting an Asian American female poet. I must honestly say that I was a bit disappointed. While I'm happy that she is achieving acclaim for her work, I agree with another reviewer that she seems to be trying hard to be "down," and quite often the poems do not feel authentic. At other times she seems to go for the shock value--for example, she keeps emphasizing cultural differences when describing an interracial relationship that she had--and the end result is a sophomoric lack of depth. I don't think this is a bad book, but overall I'd probably say there are better poets out there. I hate to pit one Asian American poet against another, but one who impressed me a lot is Suji Kwock Kim, author of Notes from the Divided Country: Poems. Definitely check out Ms. Kim's book.

Such a splendidly vitriolic lyric brew... by Rob Wilson (Santa Cruz and Honolulu)

5 Stars
June 19, 2006
mixing and clashing Korean and Korean American with Latinate forces to delineate, emote, and detonate the makings of a localized and globalized New York City on the edge of chaos and redemption. "The Temperature of This Water" registers the temperature of a city inside and outside America, and a poetry brave and caustic enough to cut into the mongrel ethos as worked out on the body and forms of this newness. Fine first book, Kaya Press keeping it urban-real beyond the multicultural frames of expectation and the fireside poetry of formal piety and pastoral bliss.

Accomplished poet by J. Gilchrist (Brooklyn, NY, USA)

4 Stars
March 08, 2006
Ms. Park's poems and stories reveal her penetrating insight into the Asian-American experience, and into New York City's ever-changing melting pot. Her work is alive with empathy and honesty. In "Anatomy of a Fish Store" she shows a multi-dimensional understanding of the spectrum from her own background to her surroundings, and the interplay of many different ethnicities. As a teacher, I find her work very promising for use with high school or college-level students. Her authenticity, hipness and street-smarts are a natural for hard-to-reach teens to connect with. Her humanity and intelligence should make her work appealing to readers of all backgrounds.

Good But Don't Believe the Hype by Todd S. (New York, NY)

3 Stars
March 04, 2006
Perhaps the hype surrounding her (especially after her Def Poetry gig) created an unreal unexpectation on her work for me. While I believe her voice is a solid addition to both the poetry scene and in Asian American (and American) literature generally, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in this work. There are moments of brilliance in her poetry when her words amplify often-muted voices of struggle, pain, and survival. However they are peppered through a sometimes stale landscape of ideas that are disguised in overwrought emotion and overthetop delivery. This is not to say I didn't enjoy it on whole nor to deter you from reading it. However, at times, some of the heavy-handed strokes made me cringe a bit. And although I don't agree to the extent the first reviewer, I do feel some of hype and the "five star" reviews here ignore some of the fallacies of this particular work. That being all said, I do look forward to Ms. Park's future works as her voice and form continues to more fully develop.

I love this book by deseray

5 Stars
March 02, 2006
After reading this book I felt as if I could relate to Ishle. My teacher lent me this book to read and It inspired me so much that I wrote an essay on how Ishle Yi Park's writing influenced me. I also went to one of her book readings in Berkeley. That is one day I will never forget. As soon as Ishle began to read her poem Uma, I began to cry. She read with so much emotion. I will never forget this book. I bought a copy for myself and it is very special to me. I love this book.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	A Good Indian Wife: A Novel by Anne Cherian (Author) “An absorbing tale of contrasts. . . . Cherian tells the story with quiet strength.” —San Francisco Chronicle Handsome anesthesiologist Neel is sure he can resist his family’s pleas that he marry a “good” Indian girl. With a girlfriend and a career back in San Francisco, the last thing Neel needs is an arranged marriage. But that’s precisely what he gets. His bride, Leila, a thirty-year-old teacher, comes with her own complications. They struggle to reconcile their own...
	American Knees by Shawn Wong (Author), Jeffrey F. L. Partridge (Introduction) American Knees is about relationships, sex, work, and family obligations. In other words, it's about life. "American Knees (a takeoff on the old schoolyard song, 'Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees. . .') is the story of how Raymond Ding, a politically correct man with a politically incorrect sense of humor, falls into, and out of, love with newspaper photographer Aurora Crane. As Raymond and Aurora’s story unfolds, Wong crafts some wonderfully telling and funny scenes of social relations...
	Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America by Mimi Thi Nguyen (Editor), Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu (Editor) Alien Encounters showcases innovative directions in Asian American cultural studies. In essays exploring topics ranging from pulp fiction to multimedia art to import-car subcultures, contributors analyze Asian Americans’ interactions with popular culture as both creators and consumers. Written by a new generation of cultural critics, these essays reflect post-1965 Asian America; the contributors pay nuanced attention to issues of gender, sexuality, transnationality, and citizenship, and they...
	Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. Revised and Updated with four new stories. by Hisaye Yamamoto (Author) A collection of 19 stories that span Hisaye Yamamoto's 40-year career. Yamamoto's themes include the cultural conflicts between the first generation, the Issei, and their children, the Nisei; coping with prejudice; and the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans.
	Scent of Apples: A Collection of Stories by Bienvenido N. Santos (Author) "Santos writes simply and skillfully of his countrymen who leave home for America, of the pain of separation, lonliness, longing, yesterday's hopes and tomorrow's dreams. His portraits of these gentle, courageous exiles are moving as he shows how each struggles to make his roots while sustained by the dream of a return home...Santos gets to the heart of what it is like to be uprooted, alone, alien..." --Publishers Weekly "Santos is a writer of deceptive simplicity, one whose graceful...