watch the whole goddamned thing burn by doungjai gam
Nightscape Press (May 2020)
50 pages; $30 Limited Edition
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia
If you’ve read doungjai gam’s glass slipper dreams, shattered and savored that collection’s wonderfully raw emotion, then her recent novella from Nightscape Press—llustrated by the immensely talented Luke Spooner—is a must buy. In it, gam takes all of the intensity and power of her verse and packs it into prose, weaving a highly emotional and devastating tale which will leave you gasping for breath and, quite possibly, weeping at its end.
Sammi Hayes wants justice, and she’s willing to burn the whole world down to get it. After the death of her cousin, she wants to strike back at those responsible for her cousin’s death, and she’s willing to go to any lengths to do it. This isn’t like those Hollywood movies in which the grieved go on a murderous rampage and then walk off into the sunset at the end of the movie, having avenged their loved ones, now at peace. There will be no peace for Sammi, ever. Not until she watches—hence the title—everything burn.
To say any more would be to give away too much. Suffice to say, with limited copies remaining, you want to get this yesterday, and experience the raw, cutting emotional prose that is doungjai gam’s trademark.
Highly recommended.
