Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

89 reviews

puro_satx's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Like all of Vuong's work this is another phenomenal collection. "Dear Rose" and "Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker" were emotional gut punches that I'm grateful to have experienced. I will forever read whatever Vuong publishes and can't wait for what's next. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

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

amanda_marie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

I will always love ocean’s way with words. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent

dozicasey's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: War, Sexual content, Suicide, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Death

okayletsread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

I appreciate Ocean's vulnerability, which is clearly given as a gift to his readers, but the style and content of the poetry wasn't my preference. The images often felt disjointed to a point where I had a hard time grasping the substance of each poem. I felt rather distracted by the competing details. I'd still like to try his memoir which I've heard is breathtaking and heartbreaking, but this didn't work for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Drug use, Homophobia, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Death

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

allthebestjess's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide

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