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bugsybugs's review
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Infidelity, Grief, and Rape
breanneporter's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Andrea Gibson is awesome. I fell for them and their partner Megan after hearing them on Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things podcast and I’m so glad to have read more of their work in You Better Be Lightning. My favorite poems in the collection are:
Acceptance Speech After Setting the World Record in Goosebumps
Every Time I Ever Said I Want to Die
What Love Is
The Day Prince Died
My Gender is the Undoing of Gender
The Night Shift
Love Letter to the Tick that Got Me Sick
The Test of Time
See This Through
Acceptance Speech After Setting the World Record in Goosebumps
Every Time I Ever Said I Want to Die
What Love Is
The Day Prince Died
My Gender is the Undoing of Gender
The Night Shift
Love Letter to the Tick that Got Me Sick
The Test of Time
See This Through
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse
the_vegan_bookworm's review
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:
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia
jennazim's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
rriverr's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
i just really love andrea 😭 <3333
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Homophobia
thebooktest's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
YOU BETTER BE LIGHTNING is the newest poetry book by Andrea Gibson. it is full of heartfelt poetry discussing being clear, mental illness, climate change, and love. i highly recommend it for anyone and everyone. it was moving and profound and honest. 5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicide
chamomiatea's review
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction
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