We plead this question at her over and over again; are you for real? How much do you embody a species of oblivious white womanhood, and how much are you constructed to critique it?
Far from the cliché or pastiche of the romance genre (not that I have anything against said genre), the book shows us how desire isn’t simply a motor, a romantic quest, or an overcoming. In Suksi’s hands, it can also be a lost destination to which we can return.
For those who aren’t familiar, Canada Reads is usually a five-day spectacle which mixes a book club with a book prize, shoves it into the framework of Survivor, and airs it live on the CBC every March.
Poems like Kaur’s fall under the broad umbrella of what can be called “mango diaspora poetry,” an often-ridiculed subgenre which relies on stereotypes that often flatten the description of the complex South Asian experience into universal nostalgic sadness.