Hey everyone, my name is Leslie. Welcome to myĀ channel, Books Gurrs and Purrs. Today Iām goingĀ Ā
to be reviewing the book, Time is a Mother byĀ Ocean Vuong. I absolutely love Ocean Vuongās work.Ā Ā
Heās put out a poetry collection before. NightĀ
Sky with Exit Wounds, which I absolutely lovedĀ Ā
and then he put out his debut novel, aĀ
work of fiction, that is On Earth WeāreĀ Ā
Briefly Gorgeous. I love that work as well. I alsoĀ love this, but if weāre going to put it on a scaleĀ Ā
of comparing his work, because heās such anĀ
incredible writer itās kind of hard not to.Ā Ā
Heās kind of created a this beautiful existenceĀ of poetry and fictional narrative all of his ownĀ Ā
with the way that he uses prose and verse Iād haveĀ to say that On Earth Weāre Briefly Gorgeous is oneĀ Ā
of my favorite books, but of his work thatās likeĀ number one and then his poetry collections wouldĀ Ā
be second. This I liked a bit less than Night SkyĀ With Exit Wounds, but itās still a great read. SoĀ Ā
in this book heās exploring the loss of his motherĀ and as well as other topics that heās explored,Ā Ā
which is him being gay, him being Vietnamese.Ā I feel very much at times heās discussing howĀ Ā
heās viewed or the narratives that he comes upĀ against from others in America, being an American,Ā Ā
Vietnamese American. Some of the subjects thatĀ he comes up against, and so one of them
that
I wanted to discuss. Iām going to read what heĀ wrote, because itās best said in his own words
Okay so Ocean Vuong writes, āOnce at a
party set on a rooftop in Brooklyn for
an artsy vibe. A young woman said sipping herĀ drink, youāre so lucky youāre gay plus you get
to write about war and stuff Iām just white
pause I got nothing. Laughter glasses clink.ā
So what heās exploring there is this myth of
what someone who is a part of a minority group
or someone thatās been through hardship shouldĀ be able to accomplish. It kind of reminds me of
Alicia Elliottās work, A Mind Spread on the Ground,Ā because in that book she writes that she wasā¦
Actually before I say that if youāre not familiarĀ with that work, itās a work of non-fiction, itās a
memoir and Alicia just explores mental illness,Ā being a person of the indigenous community,
and she came up against something similarlyĀ when she was in a writing program a white
person turned to her and just said, like oh
well because youāre indigenous youāre gonna
easily get into another writing program, which isĀ just not the case. I donāt really know where that
minority myth comes from, if I could call it that,Ā but itās this idea that if someoneās been through
great suffering, theyāre somehow at an advantage,Ā which is just absolutely ridiculous. So I felt
like thatās in a similar vein with whatās being
discussed in Ocean Vuongās poetry here is that
thereās someone that looks at the tragedies
of his family being torn apart from their
land in Vietnam due to the war, that took placeĀ there and then placed over here in America to
have to start over, if thatās even possible,
and I donāt know. I think itās, I donāt even
know what to say about someone looking at someoneĀ else and saying well, because youāve been through
all these struggles are being put in a
position, because youāre gay where thereās
struggles in society now you could just like,
rub your fingers together and make art easier.
Itās just so ridiculous, but that stood out to meĀ and kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but I think
thatās whatās really great about Ocean VuongāsĀ work is that he could take moments and kind of put
a mirror up to like, the shittiness of humanity.
Iāll just say that. Thatās just, Iām not as poetic
as him to say any better. Thereās one other momentĀ that I really loved in his work. So Iāll just read
it and then talk about it and that is on page
five. Thereās a poem called, Snow Theory. Okay
and Ocean Vuong writes āOne by one the houseĀ is turned off their lights. I lay down over
her outline to keep her true. Together we made anĀ angel. It looked like something being destroyed in
a blizzard. I havenāt killed a thing since.ā
So throughout the novel. Throughout the novel?
So throughout Ocean Vuongās work of poetry,Ā he uses snow, I think as a symbolism of death,
which Iāve only seen used in films and I
think itās also discussed in literature that
way. So that really stuck out to me, but what
I really loved about this moment is I felt like
when heās creating a snow angel, I feel in a
way thatās his attempt to preserve his mother.
At least thatās how I took it, but if if Iām
wrong please correct me. I felt like heās just
trying to hold on to her existence through thisĀ action and I thought that was really beautiful,
really loving and also he describes it in
a violent way, right? Murdering something
and itās just something to think about. I
donāt want to say too much more about his work
other than to say that heās really great. I
donāt know how he does it. Iām just gonna have
to study his work more. He has a way of jumpingĀ through time from moment to moment and I saw that
really exhibited in, On Earth Weāre Briefly
Gorgeous, but he does it again so well in his
poetry collection here and I really appreciate
that. My only critique, and I donāt even know
if I should call it critique, but Iāll just say
that because also Iām not an expert at poetry.
Iām loving reading certain poetry collections,
but itās still not my go-to genre. If you will
at times, I think there are like two separate
poems in here where Ocean Vuong switches from
a poetic narrative to more of a prose narrativeĀ and Iām just not sure what heās doing there. I
donāt know if thatās considered experimental orĀ maybe I just donāt understand. So if anyone has
anything to say about those two, more prose
prone, I donāt know what you want to say,
poetry pieces, Iād like to hear what you have toĀ say about it. I just didnāt, I wasnāt sure how it
fit in to whatās going on, but again I think Iām
just going to have to reread this particular work
to kind of get a better grasp on it. So yeah,
I did like it. I didnāt love it as much as I
did On Earth Weāre Briefly Gorgeous and Night SkyĀ With Exit Wounds, but itās still a great read and
Iām definitely going to feel that way throughoutĀ his entire career, because everything he writes
is absolutely beautiful. So pick up a copy.
All right everyone, thatās it for that read.
Like, subscribe, write a comment. Let me knowĀ what you think about this work and that prose
narrative. Iād really like to know what you
think. All right everyone, Iāll see you later.
Conten writer at FlipReview who specialise in Gadgets review, food critics, app and games review, car and bike review, book reviews, movies reviews, tv-series reviews and many more.