All We Ask is You to be Happy

by Angie Sijun Lou

Poetry. LGBTQIA Studies. Women's Studies. ALL WE ASK IS YOU TO BE HAPPY is a collection of prose poetry that lives at the nexus of several possible the diaspora and homeland, performativity and the real, android and animal, a girl and her fractures. This collection traces one family's movement from Red China to living undocumented in the United States, questioning what remains when origins are displaced, ghosts become material, and myths are forced to survive under capitalism.

Genres: Poetry

50 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[el · Rating 4 out of 5]

angie sijun lou has produced some of my all-time favorite digital poetry + flash fiction, so to get to see selections of it held open between my hands is especially enthralling:

When I was very young, I asked Baba what drowning feels like, and he said not everything feels like something else.

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At night, I dream of a Buddha / who never prays. He plucks drones from the sky, / sucks on them like lollipops.

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After they made me, the first thing they did was peel the cellophane from my eyes. I blinked once, twice, and cried because that’s how you say you are alive before you are given language.

[Bennvy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANGIE

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone else out there remember 'zines? This chapbook recalls the spirit of the rebellious '90s with its mix of poetry, collage, and flash fiction. Or is that memoir? Either way, there's a constant sense of surprise as you turn through the 50 pages. What's next? An erasure poem? A riff on the pledge of allegiance? An interview with a ghost? "All We Ask Is You to be Happy" may be short but its sense of playfulness outdistances many a tome.

[△*.- · Rating 5 out of 5]

binge-read this whole book last night after searching for a copy for years. triptych is my favorite- i was so upset when it was missing from her website, but, knew at that point that it was time to buy the book. angie is one of the best contemporary poets and i can say this without a sliver of doubt. more people should be reading and discussing her work- beyond "jessica gives me a chill pill." i'll be re-reading this many many more times. never stop writing, angie.

[Peyton McFarlain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and moving, I got this collection of poetry from Thriftbooks because it was out of print but I can’t get Jessica Gives Me a Chill Pill out of my head. All We Ask Is You To Be Happy is a journey that feels so personal and captures every moment in time with such exacting detail and perfect wording.

[David Anthony Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

An experimental and somewhat self-indulgent collection.

[allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

really cool composition

[Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars (rounded up)
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I liked that this book was short and that there were interesting images and formatting woven in. I wasn’t able to connect to the content on a deep level, but it was still cool to read.