Ocean Vuong writes beautifully. This poetry collection is no different. Each poem tells a story through his beautiful and haunting writing. I particularly loved 'Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker', seemingly mundane at the start but truly affecting by the end. I would recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed Vuong's writing in the past or anyone searching for a good poetry collection.

Ocean Vuong is a voice of his generation. His newest poetry collection has too many knockout pieces to highlight even a few. A triumph!

Time is a Mother is a stunning addition to Vuong's collection of poetry. Reading similarly to On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong's beautiful but shocking verses display his experiences as being LGBTQ+, a child of immigrants, and what it means to be human. Using modern language and themes, he paints a picture of the difficulties we face today and does not sugarcoat the violence or anger. I particularly liked the poem Beautiful Short Loser, though the poem Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker hit my harder than I imagined it would.

Would absolutely recommend this to my patrons who like poetry or want to try poetry that is more modern and accessible.

Vuong is one of my favorite poets and I really enjoyed reading this. I think if you're more a fan of his narrative work you won't enjoy this as much but I loved it. His words are always mesmerizing to me and really resonate with me as a fellow queer person. The pieces "Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker", "Künstlerroman", "Ars Poetica as the Maker", and "Dear Rose" stuck with me the most in this collection.

(4.5 stars rounded up)

Unlike Ocean Vuong's previous poetry collection, there is a story to be told with every new poem. Or that is at least, how I interpreted it. This time around, I feel that Vuong might’ve made notions to a theme surrounding self-reliance at its core though I’m sure there is more to it that I didn’t catch reading it the first time around. Known for his lyrical and stunning writing, Vuong continues his legacy in this poetry collection. That being said, sometimes the language being used in poetry, as many of us know, can be difficult to understand. This collection seemed more blunt and melodic than Night Sky with Exit Wounds. It seems to me that readers who are familiar with poetry to begin will be able to recognize the talent from the first few poems.

TIME IS A MOTHER was a below-average collection for me. There were the occasional interesting poems, but the vast majority felt forced, edgy and lacking in style. I was annoyed by the structure of most of the poems, and while I liked some of the content, the actual “box” fell flat for me.

A difficult read, for those reasons. But I imagine it might resonate much more with other people.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Ocean Vuong is a truly masterful writer - in poetry or prose. I like the way he uses language, both quotidian and poetic, to tell a story in his poems. A great read for poetry or Ocean Vuong fans.

Reading Ocean Vuong’s poetry is like reading the worst parts of your own diary—not the embarrassment, but the memory of pain and how it can still feel acute when you recall it. Vuong’s magic is that he turns such pain into art, writes lines that make you say, “Yes, I know exactly what he means.” Every bit of praise he’s gotten has been earned in this way.

Ocean does it again in this beautiful, cutting volume. With writing as sharp and true as a knife, this volume of poetry speaks to the brutal experiences of queerness and being a son.

Ocean Vuong's writing is always mesmerizing. I do, however, still prefer him writing narrative than poetry. There were some good poems in here, but overall I was not that much captivated by any of them. It was a very quick read, with some hard blows because this is Ocean Vuong, but it wasn't my favorite. I do believe that there will be an audience that will love this collection though.

Vuong’s second collection of poetry is at times quirky, often heartbreaking, and always amazingly crafted. It very much circles the loss of his mother, his relationship with his longtime partner, and on some level reckoning with the violence in our world—in language, as the grandchild of the Vietnam War, as a refugee, as an observer. It’s all good but “Not Even”, “Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker”, and “Reasons for Staying” stuck with me for different reasons.

Writing a poetry collection is an ambitious task – to collate so many different pieces of art into one collection and hope that the work as a whole resonates with the reader. In Ocean Vuong's hands, a poetry collection is truly a work of art. There are so many beautiful lines in this collection, so many well-crafted poems. The poem structured as a shopping list history, "Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker," is one of those simply brilliant things that seems so obvious once it's written.I think that anyone who enjoys poetry, or Ocean's novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous," while enjoy reading this collection. These are poems that prompt you to take time and sit with them. I can imagine every reader will have a different crop of poems that are standouts for them. I personally really loved "Rise & Shine," "Reasons for Staying," and "Tell Me Something Good."

Holy smokes. Ocean Vuong does it again.

I spent a few weeks with this collection, savoring each poem.

Who knew an Amazon purchase list could make me cry?

Thank you, more please.

Although I'm not a huge Poetry reader, I found parts of this collection so mesmerising and know that there will be an audience out there who adore this.

Ocean Vuong has a way with words that is just so captivating and emotional. I'm not a huge poetry reader so this wasn't really my cup of tea, but it was still a pleasant read because of Vuong's prose.

I wanted to like this one, but I couldn't get into it. The idea was great but I just couldn't get into for some reason. It could've been the structure that did it in for me. The way they wrote was very unique and different though.

Beautiful writing - I love Ocean Vuong's poetic voice. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.

Vuong's first poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, was so mesmerizing and vulnerable that I knew I had to read more of his poems, and Time Is a Mother delivered exactly what it promised: achingly beautiful and haunting verses, full of soul and the whole wide range of human emotions.