Reviews

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

laramariam's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

buggirl48's review against another edition

4.0

As someone who is not a huge poetry consumer but a lover of Vuong's themes and writing abilities, this collection of poems had me intrigued just from the title and it did not disappoint in the slightest.The poems in this are truly like nothing I have ever read before, I can barely put into words how much this collection affected me, and it's been weeks since I finished this. This collection deals with many different themes including race, sexuality and family, but for me personally the grief in this book is what knocked the wind out of me. As someone who has gone through the grieving process of losing their mother I knew this would be a tough yet relatable read, but I truly was not prepared for the wave of emotions that took over me while reading this. It's raw, gorgeous yet haunting, but overall it just leaves you speechless in the best way possible. The originality with some of the pieces in this added such a dynamic layer to it as well which I adored (specifically the Amazon History poem, possibly my favorite piece of writing I've read in 2021). The pages in this come alive with anger, confusion, fear, joy and so many other feelings, it's like this book has its own soul it’s just that full of life, energy and emotion. Without a doubt the best poetry I've read in my life, and I cannot wait for everyone to savor the emotions you get from this just like I did.

daumari's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 rounded to 4. Unfortunately, I feel like poetry is wasted on me, but I can appreciate the medium for processing grief on death of his mother and feeling through other complicated personal relationships.

Overdue, so a quick read for me with little time to dwell on it.

caralibs's review against another edition

3.0

 trying to read a poetry but this fell flat. But I still want to prove like everyone said that his books are great. I know I will get there 

zober's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

3.75

For many of these poems I appreciated the beauty but not the meaning. My most common reaction to each poem was "Wow that was lovely/beautiful/poignant. Wish I understood what it meant." Thankfully this is a brief collection - just over 100 pages - so it wasn't long enough for me to feel totally lost.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this to anyone who isn't ready for a book of emotional poems that require a lot of thought to interpret. 

leah_rose24's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

justcallmeash's review against another edition

The poems just didn’t resonate with me, and it was due to be returned to the library. 

marloureads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

3.25

eternalfig's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

4.25

srishtis's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This is the first poetry collection I’ve read by Ocean Vuong - wow, was I blown away! His writing is so fluid and organic. I felt deeply his sense of grief over his mother’s passing, and I couldn’t help but shed some tears by the end.