{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374615977?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0374615977","authors":["Victoria Chang"],"book_id":"9780374615970","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/with-my-back-to-the-world-9780374615970","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374615970.jpg?v=bbf368512fb28997","description":"Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR Named One of the Best Poetry Collections of the Year by The Guardian , Literary Hub , and Electric Literature A new collection of poetry inspired by the work of Agnes Martin, exploring topics of feminism, art, depression, and grief, by the author of the prizewinning collection Obit . Yesterday I slung my depression on my back and went to the museum. I only asked four attendants where the Agnes painting was and the fifth one knew. I walked into the room and saw it right away. From afar, it was a large white square. With My Back to the World engages with the paintings and writings of Agnes Martin, the celebrated abstract artist, in ways that open up new modes of expression, expanding the scope of what art, poetry, and the human mind can do. Filled with surprise and insight, wit and profundity, the book explores the nature of the self, of existence, life and death, grief and depression, time and space. Strikingly original, fluidly strange, Victoria Chang’s new collection is a book that speaks to how we see and are seen.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780374615970","publication_date":"20250401","publisher":"Farrar Straus &amp; Giroux","slug":"with-my-back-to-the-world","subtitle":"Poems","title":"With My Back to the World"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.8064,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Family Poems","score":0.8033,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Asian American Poetry","score":0.7998,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.8064,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Family Poems","score":0.8033,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Asian American Poetry","score":0.7998,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"POE000000","confidence_band":"high","label":"POETRY / General","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Poetry About Death","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE024000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women Poets","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.8064,"slug":"poetry-about-death"},{"label":"Family Poems","score":0.8033,"slug":"family-poems"},{"label":"Asian American Poetry","score":0.7998,"slug":"asian-american-poetry"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in poetry engaging with art, grief, and depression."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Franny Choi"],"book_id":"9780063240094","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063240094.jpg?v=8849bba71c5003be","score":0.7192,"title":"The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063240094"},{"authors":["Ocean Vuong"],"book_id":"9780593300237","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593300237.jpg?v=6125f520bea86d9b","score":0.6982,"title":"Time Is a Mother","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593300237"},{"authors":["Christi Steyn"],"book_id":"9781524873820","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524873820.jpg?v=58322d9333f3df2f","score":0.6944,"title":"What the Moon Gave Her","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524873820"},{"authors":["Taylor Byas"],"book_id":"9781593767877","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781593767877.jpg?v=9fade2c118820a35","score":0.6873,"title":"Resting Bitch Face","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781593767877"},{"authors":["Brianna Pastor"],"book_id":"9780063359659","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063359659.jpg?v=468dea8417d553b4","score":0.6816,"title":"Good Grief","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063359659"},{"authors":["Katerina Jeng"],"book_id":"9781524889807","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524889807.jpg?v=027ff08b0fd7588c","score":0.6804,"title":"Gospel of a Whole Sun","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524889807"},{"authors":["Adrienne Chung"],"book_id":"9780143137740","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780143137740.jpg?v=1949d9a2b8ee2348","score":0.6803,"title":"Organs of Little Importance","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780143137740"},{"authors":["Diana Khoi Nguyen"],"book_id":"9781668031308","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668031308.jpg?v=b4bc4d9a6b565dc9","score":0.6794,"title":"Root Fractures","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668031308"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:poetry"],"label":"Poetry","score":0.1898,"slug":"poetry"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:poetry about art"],"label":"About","score":0.1333,"slug":"about"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:contemporary poetry"],"label":"Contemporary","score":0.0335,"slug":"contemporary"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:asian american authors"],"label":"Asian","score":0.0266,"slug":"asian"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Art and poetry, Grief and depression, Self and existence.","Themes: Poetry, Contemporary, Asian.","Reading lane: Poetry About Death and Family Poems."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["For readers interested in poetry engaging with art, grief, and depression."],"themes":["Art and poetry","Grief and depression","Self and existence"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":711,"goodreads_reviews_count":160,"quality_score":0.909}}