A review by morgob
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

4.0

I enjoyed this more than On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous I think. It's been a few years since I read that first book, so I can't quite remember. I do remember giving it a rather childish review, though, because it made me sad. This was less put together than the previous book, perhaps on purpose. The poems didn't flow well together as a whole, I don't think. Only a couple of them really stood out to me, and those knocked it out of the park. I suppose I expected this to be a lot more about his mother's death and his dealing with it. Maybe it is and I just didn't pick up on it. That was my expectations going into it, though; since he talked so much about his mother in the first book I just expected there to be more about her. The last two poems were perhaps my favorites. They really made the collection what it is. Part of me wants to go back and reread the first book to see if my thoughts have changed since then, and since reading this book as well.