A review by vince_reads
You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

 This collection of poetry was so good that I feel insecure—unable—to relate in my own words just how good it was. But let's try anyway.

I opened the first page of You Better Be Lightning and I was tearing up within two minutes. It takes the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy over eight hours of run time to have that same effect on me, and I've watched those movies with every commentary track—and all the special features—multiple times.

I got about halfway through the book and felt like I had made a new friend and was eager to learn everything about them: What? You believe in aliens, too?! I haven't made a new In-Real-Life friend in at least five years.

By the end of the book, I wanted to watch Andrea Gibson perform every poem they've ever written, even though crowds of people are just the worst; I wanted to recite every poem to everybody I knew, despite knowing sharing something so intimate is a top three fear; I wanted to memorize every single word to never forget how that first time reading it felt, when the only other time I memorized a poem was because I had to for a class.

Hope this helps.