Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

94 reviews

krys_kilz's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

This collection was incredibly moving and several of the poems brought me to tears, especially the poem Nothing. I liked this collection better than his first, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, but it's similar in the way he plays with language, emotion and form. It's definitely a collection I plan to return to.

My favorite poems in the collection were: The Bull, Dear Peter, Beautiful Short Loser, American Legend, Not Even, Nothing and Ars Poetica as the Maker.

"I'm not sad, he told me once, laughing, I'm just always here."

"I know. I know the room you've been crying in is called America.
I know the door is not invented yet."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and War

Minor: Suicide

cernst09's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Grief

emma_b_rhodes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Death of parent, Violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and War

hannibanani29's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, War, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

sonyareadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Cancer, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, and Death of parent

vigil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

for the most part, this collection didn’t hit as hard as his previous one for me. the poems in this one truly shined the more reflective they were, especially those focusing on the gathering thread of the poems, his mother. 

but so much time was spent, in my opinion, meandering that i believe that you could remove the first section and the collection would be stronger for it. my favorite of them all is section 2 where he really began to shine, and returned to the things that made me enjoy his poetry in the first place. the final two sections didn’t quite manage to live up to the second, but it was miles better than that first portion. 

my personal standouts here are:
the last dinosaur 

waterline

rise & shine

dear t

amazon history of a former nail salon worker 

nothing 

ars poetica as the maker

the punctum

tell me something good

woodworking at the end of the world

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, Suicide, Cancer, Death of parent, Mental illness, Bullying, and Death

mxpringle's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Hate crime, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: War

decoincidenza's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

This is the first work of poetry I have read and I don’t know if anything will ever live up to this. Vuong’s works are lyrical and flowing and amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Bullying, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Biphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide

solouncapitulomas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide and War