Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

47 reviews

hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

A prayer after reading Ocean Vuong’s TIME IS A MOTHER:

May the taste of grief be slowly rinsed from our mouths. “What we’ll always have is something we lost,” but may we also always feel the edge of a found dollar bill when we reach into our pockets. May we reach towards a world where those too tired to be happy are still alive; may their rested bodies stretch the length of the earth and may heaven still be for another day. May dead mothers still be alive in dreams. May we dream that we can manipulate time and wake up, still breathing. “I was made to die but I’m here to stay,” and may we always have a reason to stay. May we leave people and places and memories so that we have a reason to stay. May we always wish for more; may we always allow ourselves to wish for more.

May this mediocre body still be enough. May sensation not hurt so much, and when it does, may we realize that a body that feels like this cannot be mediocre. May we continue to feel, and feel, and feel, even when feeling becomes too much. May we still love when we are afraid of love. May we still love when we have been hurt by love. May we still love because this is all the time we have to love.

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maria_winther's review against another edition

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5.0

🫰🏼

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krys_kilz's review against another edition

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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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hannibanani29's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0


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sonyareadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective

4.75


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vigil's review against another edition

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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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laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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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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solouncapitulomas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.0


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samarakroeger's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

I liked the longer, more prose-like poems a lot more than the ones with lots of random line breaks. 

Favorites: Beautiful Short Loser, Dear Rose

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bmastando's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25


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