ARC provided by NetGalley. Thank you so much to them and the publishers!

So, I had a hard time with this. I requested this book because while I haven't read any of OV's works in full, I have adored every excerpt I've read from him. I also will fully admit I know almost nothing about poetry except for being able to look at something and decide if I liked it or not. I... am torn.

Poetry is so personal and individual. It makes it hard to review objectively, especially coming from a very casual reader of it. I really enjoyed a few poems here, but overall I felt as if most poems were all over the place, and not in the way that made OV's previous excerpts I've read so charming. They felt extremely convoluted, and after two or three readings of each poem I still would come out the other side feeling like I didn't understand anything. Maybe it's just me! Who's to say.

Many poems also felt a bit... edgy? The references to blood and awful things and the way they were written often struck me a bit... Tumblr-esque? Which is sad, because I've found OV's way with words so charming before.

That said, when the poems worked, they worked.

I'll preface this section with a personal note by saying I waited to read this ARC on my mom's birthday. It's a bit of a sad day for me, but she passed away from cancer when I was a teenager. Perhaps because of this— and perhaps why these poems read as so much more earnest and true— I found the strongest poems in this collection relate to OV's mother, and the relationship with grief that we form when we lose ours.

Overall, I do suggest people try this out for themselves!

<b>Favorites:</b>
- Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker
- Woodworking at the End of the World
- Dear Rose
- Nothing
- Reasons for Staying

Ocean writes and the world stops. For a moment in time when I am alone with their words, their writing, I feel like I am not alone. That is a gift. That is pure magic.

I'm a huge fan of Vuong's previous works, but unfortunately this poetry collection didn't work as well for me. The only poem that really grabbed my attention was "Nothing", but otherwise I didn't feel like that theme of the collection was that cohesive. The poems themselves didn't feel as sophisticated stylistically as his previous works either. I even gave this collection a couple readthroughs before submitting my review and my thoughts stayed the same.

☆☆☆☆ ½

Time Is A Mother was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, so recieving an e-ARC to read early was such an honour.

Vuong has absolutely nothing to prove to me, he is an absolute master of language and emotion and I expect to fall into whatever he releases with everything I have.
I devoured this collection in just under an hour, reading and rereading lines and whole poems and letting every word sink into my veins. Vuong has an incredible, intriguing and unique writing style and I truly cannot get enough of it.

The vast majority of this collection screams Ocean Vuong, whilst the odd few are a little different and less familiar.

Time Is A Mother returns to the exploration of the aftermath of his mother's death. Toying with the want to conserve memories, the duality of grief against love and moving forward. And, as expected, Vuong explores the prejudices of race, sexuality and the line between both, done so in an intimate, poignant manner.

My favourite pieces from Time Is A Mother are definitely "Not Even", "Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker" and "Reasons For Staying", all of which are heartbreaking, intimate and utterly beautiful.

I was less impressed with some of the pieces in this collection than others, hence why I feel like I can't give it the full 5 stars, but it is an insightful, heartwrenching read nonetheless.

ARC provided by Penguin Press/Random House UK via Netgalley.

literally shut up this was so good

5/5 stars

LEAGUES BETTER THAN HIS PREVIOUS !!!!!!
poems are poignant, feel like they have a specific message and point as compared to his previous poetry collection that felt like he was writing words just to write them
ocean vuong could write a dictionary and i would read it i love this

A heart-wrenching exploration of grief and hope after death told through eloquently-written verse. This is my first dive into Ocean Vuong's poetry and, from the very first line, I knew I was going to love this. I loved the variety in each of the poems, the use of space, the use of diction to craft such a breathless discussion of loss and love. My two favorites would have to be "Beautiful Short Loser" and "Dear Rose." Will definitely be checking out "Night Sky With Exit Wounds" next!

Ocean Vuong’s newest work, a collection of poems and essays reflecting on his experiences of grief and loss following his mother’s death and the influence of his time in war, is a work of literary beauty. The writing is absolutely beautiful, heart wrenching, and evocative, and I felt the effects of every description of grief, despair, emptiness, longing, and desire that Vuong provided. Reading this felt like perusing an art museum, getting an intimate yet fleeting glimpse of one’s experiences of hardship and trauma in a beautifully distressing way. This is a work that will stay with me for a while, I cannot stop thinking about it!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! <3

Time is a Mother, Ocean Vuong. The Penguin Press (PENGUIN GROUP), pub. April 5. 2022

Thank you to NetGalley and The Penguin Press for the advanced copy!

Before requesting this piece, I had only read Ocean Vuong’s prose, specifically On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, which I read for one of my writing courses at my university. I absolutely loved the writing style and the story it followed. It made me crave more of his writing.

Once I saw his newest poetry collection up on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to request it, and just a day later, I sent it to my Kindle to read it. I was done with it within just a few hours, but I was completely drawn in.

In this beautiful collection of prose and poetry (and prose poetry), Vuong discusses grief, death, homophobia, and being queer in intricate, stunning detail. His word choices and poem structures vary, adding the magnificent imagery and metaphors and bringing them to life. He has such a natural talent for being poetic; I admire his work so much because of that. I would dare to even say that Vuong has become a huge inspiration for me in my own poetry.

Something I liked most about this collection is his use of prose within the text, but also within the poems themselves. He would often alternate between verse and prose in a few of his poems, creating this unique, dynamic voice that interwove the poetic nature of his work with the style and elegance that prose brings. He also included one section that was most, if not all, prose (but also could’ve been prose poetry, too, since the distinction is often hard to tell without explicitly stating if it is or isn’t prose poetry).

The themes within this book were heart wrenching, beautiful, heartbreaking, and so unbelievably raw. Vuong opens up about his life in so many descriptions and verses. He really brings the audience in with his words.

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong gets 5 out of 5 stars

I have yet to read Ocean Vuong's novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" but I did love his first poetry collection "Night Sky with Exit Wounds". And just like what I observed from the latter, I can tell that his poems are inspired a lot by his own personal experiences. A lot of the poems felt personal, which may have been the reason why I didn't connect with this collection. I feel like this is more of an "it's not me, it's you" problem. But I do admit that there is something to be applauded with the way Vuong writes lyrically. I'm just a tad bit disappointed, mostly because of my high expectations. His first collection raised the bar too high for me.

Having loved both "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" and Vuong's previous poetry collection, I was undeniably looking forward to having the experience of reading this. Therefore, I was not surprised by my enjoyment of it, but I did not expect for it to remind me more of his novel than of "Night Sky with Exit Wounds." There is a storytelling quality to the poems in his latest book. Personal moments are rendered into surfaces of meaning to be pierced by words, and the blood they draw is vital emotion that sticks to the letters and trickles through the eyes that touch them. The running theme of time's contradictory valences, in particular when it comes to living with grief, is signaled by the title and remains a presence throughout. Once again, a balance between having solid threads to return back to without rendering the reliance on them repetitive is achieved to a great impact.

I started this book, intending to savour it over the next couple of days, if I needed a bit of a break from the fantasy series I was originally planning to read, but somehow, 2 hours later, I’ve torn through it.

I started off bookmarking my favourite poems, and then I realized, I was bookmarking nearly every poem.

My God - Ocean Vuong can WRITE.

I enjoyed some of the poems, others felt like borderline tumbler poetry. Maybe this just isn't for me.
(arc from netgalley)

Wow. I am speechless. Ocean Vuong is one of my favorite writers so I felt very honored to get my hands on one of the ARCs. This poetry book is worth the hype. The poems are very vulnerable and at some points heart breaking. Vuong illustrates with his writing what it is like to be a queer Asian American. I can’t wait until this book comes out to talk about it more with everyone.

After reading "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" my expectation for this collection were high. Ocean Vuong not only met them, but exceeded them. This collection moved me, made me laugh, and brought me to tears.

“Time is a mother. Lest we forget, a morgue is also a community center.”

Ocean Vuong really shines in his latest poetic effort. The prose of reminiscent of Ginsberg, yet wholly new. The work put forth will fill your heart and then crush it, a true tour-de-force of contemporary poetry. The poems show Vuong stripped bare for the reader in the rawest and most gorgeous way. By intertwining personal experience with timely cultural references, it makes you nostalgic for the recent pre-pandemic world. Gosh, what can’t Ocean Vuong do! Please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

Some seriously beautiful poems in this, but the organization of it all is not my favorite. Having some of the longer poems at the start or the end, and then the shorter ones in the middle, would make it easier to follow.

I was somewhat worried going into this collection as I had not been a fan of Vuongs previous novel and poetry collection, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I connected with this collection. Vuong strikes a delicate balance between the Instagram poetry meant to be displayed in a stanza or two and the "high-brow" poetry that can encapsulate a complete emotion or experience in two lines. I was especially impressed with the word choice in respect to the imagery, which was succinct and evocative in a way I haven't seen since Mary Oliver. If I had one complaint it is that the penultimate poem dragged at points but overall this was an engaging and emotionally affecting collection that I won't soon forget.

I'm going to start this review by admitting that I didn't like Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. It was sadly one of my biggest disappointments of 2021. However, I was excited to get to this poetry collection because 1. I love poetry, and 2. I wanted to get to know him as the award-winning poet that he is.

Now this might be the weirdest experience I've had in terms of reading a poetry book, because the pieces were undeniably personal, made absolutely no sense to me, and the structure was kind of a mess, but I still ended up feeling somewhat moved and impressed. There's something so vital and delicate about Vuong's imagery; the pictures he paints in your head. There's the hard-hitting topics of grief, complicated relationships, sexuality, violence, and the notion that time heals wounds but how its existence can sometimes be a source of panic; a trigger.

I loved the different tones set in each piece. You hear Vuong's desperation, his fears and wishful longing, and several biting observations that he turned into powerful memories that present a larger question relating to self-acceptance, place in the world, and moving forward in life. Overall a book worth re-reading and invokes reflection.

Did I know I was going to cry reading this? Yes. Did I absolutely sob the whole way through anyway? Also yes. This poetry collection is poignant, emotional, intimate and elegant. You can't help but think about those you love deeply while reading it and the grief you feel when they leave you. Just as beautiful as his other works, this poetry collection is perfect for those experience grief.

This is a harrowing and beautiful piece of work, from author Ocean Vuong. I particularly loved the poem “The Last Prom Queen in Antarctica”. Vuong has a way of drawing out deep, emotional reactions with very few, beautifully chosen words and phrases. Deftly exploring the links between grief, love, war and hate, these poems are universal and timeless, as well as being experimental and innovative.