A review by kazuchuu
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

2.0

”Our sorrow Midas touched.”

I’m not really sure how to feel. This was my first Ocean Vuong work, and it honestly didn’t strike a chord with me. I don’t know if this is a ‘it’s-not-you-it’s-me’ situation but I felt neutral about most of the poems. There was only one that I actually enjoyed, and only a few lines that I genuinely liked. I feel like I was missing a lot of context for this work, and it was hard to understand what it was about, even vaguely. And sometimes, the formatting was so off that I couldn’t focus on the words.

However, I do see that many reviewers who didn’t enjoy this praised On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous instead, so I might give that a try.

2.5/5