Reviews

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson

evnaturtleduck's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

thatbookishwriter's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.0

sophiafroehlich's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

These poems pulled me back into myself. Andrea Gibson weaves words into epiphanies that leave me a puddle of emotion. Each poem is so personal while at the same time being universal. This particular book explores love, illness, grief, the experience of queerness, and so much more. I recommend it to absolutely everyone.

theallmightyme's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

katharina90's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

This collection includes a lot of longer poems which I enjoyed, but I often find Andrea Gibson's short poems to be the most powerful ones.

Favorites:
-Instead of Depression
-What Love Is
-Good Grief
-Constellations Rearrange Themselves into a Protest Sign

"Let your
heart break
so your spirit
doesn't."
-Good Grief

"There is no moral of this story--there us only light and sadness. There is no moral of this story. It's just a moment in my life where I did something wrong, and the earth, who has never not known what love is, held me anyway."
-What Love Is

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, and Transphobia

jlhensley's review against another edition

dark emotional funny slow-paced

3.5

kendragaylelee's review against another edition

5.0

Andrea Gibson is a master in breaking my heart wide open--for my own good.

I love their work. I'm putting in the category of my holiest books:
Untamed: https://bookshop.org/a/4334/9781984801258
Tiny Beautiful Things: https://bookshop.org/a/4334/9780593685211
You Better Be Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/4334/9781943735990

Read this one immediately. And hold on to it. So you can read it again. And again.

lonurkz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

5.0

hannahrose_99's review against another edition

4.0

andrea gibson is one of the greats, truly! this collection didn't resonate with me as much as their other ones, but still some incredible work here. i think maybe my taste in poetry has changed over the years and i might have liked this much more five years ago, but it was still incredible. i need to look up performances of some of these poems live because they're such an incredible performer. 

cirriform's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0