Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

51 reviews

nineinchnails's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

i don't usually read poetry so i think a lot of these went over my head. i didn't really connect to or understand much of the poems in the first half of this collection which was a little disappointing because i've heard such good things about vuong's work. there were more than a few poems in the second half that managed to grip me though. 

'Künstlerroman' was my favourite here. if i'm remembering correctly it was the longest poem, which might be why i managed to connect to it more. it was gutting and felt very raw. a shorter poem i really enjoyed was 'Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker'. i don't think i've ever had a list poem make me tear up like that. vuong is no doubt a talented poet but i think the formatting and structure of most of these poems just didn't work for me - that's not to say that they'll never work for me, but as it stands i don't read much poetry so i much preferred the longer poems in this collection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, War, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Racism

Minor: Suicide and Police brutality

softgalaxy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Beautiful poetry. Just beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Xenophobia, War, Hate crime, and Violence

katharina90's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

A moving collection that feels deeply personal and vulnerable. 

Favorites include:
-Old Glory
-American Legend
-Not Even
-Reasons For Staying

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Grief

calcijade's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Hate crime, Bullying, Gun violence, and Racism

robinks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Similar to Night Sky with Exit Wounds, the run on sentences made some poems really hard for me to follow. Overall, however, I felt the impact of these poems, their imagery and select phrases.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Cancer, Racism, Classism, Blood, Suicide, and War

Minor: Vomit, Gun violence, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Medical content, Homophobia, Alcohol, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

coriandercilantro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

mirandyli's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.25

Exquisitely beautiful poetry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Drug use, Racism, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Death, Colonisation, Homophobia, Grief, and War

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Cancer, Car accident, Medical content, Racism, Death, Hate crime, Grief, Suicide, Animal death, and War

Moderate: Gore, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, and Pedophilia

rachjellie's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Beautiful beautiful book. 

I don’t think it is fair to rate such an intimate book and collection of poems, so I won’t. I will say that this collection is a representation of love, loss, grief, humanity. What it means to feel and to be human. 

Some favorites:
Dear Sara
Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker
Nothing 
Reasons for Staying
Ars Poetica as the Maker
Almost Human

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Homophobia

quinnowo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I was never really able to enjoy reading poetry until this collection. It's still my absolute favorite book of poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Grief