Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson

5 reviews

the_vegan_bookworm's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Another beautiful poetry collection from Andrea Gibson. As always, their work strikes a chord deep within me and pulls my feelings out into the open. Andrea is incredibly vulnerable and raw in the most moving way. 

Some particular favourites include:
  • Acceptance speech after setting the world record in goosebumps
  • Time piece
  • Queer youth are five times more likely to die by suicide
  • No such thing as the innocent bystander
  • To whom it definitely concerns
  • Every time i ever said I want to die
  • What can't be taken
  • Wellness check
  • What you wish you'd said to the high school guidance counselor
  • What sucks about the afterlife
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rriverr's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

i just really love andrea 😭 <3333
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armontheroad's review

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emotional funny

4.0

TW/CWs: Sexual assault, rape, self-harm, depression, chronic illness, homophobia, transphobia, etc.

Very appreciative to have received an E-ARC from Button Poetry through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Immediately after finishing this, I went online to watch Andrea Gibson performing their poems live. My god, they are such a talented poet!! The wordplay is immaculate. A lot of these poems discuss hard topics, but it’s done brilliantly. Gibson knows just when to throw humor into their pieces, when to cut things short, and when to run with their point. With discussions on climate change, space, politics, transness, queerness, chronic illness, and being a rape survivor, this collection is unbelievably moving and deeply personal. 

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Usually when I'm reading an ARC to review, I take a lot of notes while I read, so that no matter what I think of the book I'll have something to say after. While reading You Better Be Lightning, I took three notes during the first couple poems, and then absolutely forgot to take any more for the entire rest of the book. I was just so sucked into the poems that all I could do was read them. There were a couple footnotes I found hilarious that I took screenshots of, but just because I loved them so much, not for the review.

So many of the poems in this book took my breath away, and it was so hard not to share them with any of my friends. I can't wait for this book to come out so that I can tell them to read it.

I didn't love every poem, but I loved most of them, and I loved some of them a lot. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read this book; thank you to Netgalley and Button Poetry for the chance to read and review this ARC. 
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chamomiatea's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad

5.0

 
Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for providing me with a free e-ARC of You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson, in exchange for review. 

I have read and loved two of Andrea Gibson’s other poetry collections, Patsy, and Lord of the Butterflies. I find reading Gibson to be a full body experience. My eyes, whilst simultaneously gobbling up all their delicious words, are also constantly brimming with, and often spilling tears. My mouth, agape, gasping, or laughing. My emotional self, ignited over and over, as the poems wash over me in all their raw realness. My skin, constant goosebumps. Once you read the first poem of this collection, you will know why I felt Andrea must have been snooping around in my brain while writing this collection. 

In You Better Be Lightning, Gibson speak on themes of queerness (both gender and sexuality), on climate change, on the beauty of the world, on abuse (yes, I do recommend checking trigger warnings before embarking), on grief, on therapy, and much more. As dark as these topics might seem, you will find humour within these pages, sometimes wry, always sharp. Often just when you need it the most. Gibson’s poems give a tantalisingly intimate peek into their life, their loves, their pain, and their growth and change over the years. 

I will admit I am not a big poetry reader, and I think that my ability to connect to Gibson’s work speaks volumes. It is conversational and easy to approach. Gibson is a story-teller. I am never left reading lines over and over trying to figure out what they even mean, like I find I am when I try to read some styles of poetry. Don’t get me wrong, I read the lines over and over, but it’s because I love them and want to absorb them into me. 

I especially love Gibson’s use of language. Their wordplay has always delighted me, the way they use homonyms and spin them into fantastic metaphors and imagery. Their craft and skill is tremendous. 

You Better Be Lightning is Andrea Gibson at their best. Raw, relatable, emotional, fierce, beautiful, and with a delightful spark of humour. I whole-heartedly recommend this collection, and I can’t wait to get the chance to recommend this to my library patrons once released. 

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