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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia
Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Outing
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Cultural appropriation
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is in a very different style than On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, which has more of a poetic prose style. As other folks have mentioned, the story started out a little slow for me, but by around the middle, when you get a good sense of the characters and the relationships to each other, the pace, for me, really picked up. I promise the story gets more hopeful by the end (though I wouldn't say there are "easy" resolutions to all the tensions/conflicts in the book).
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
OOOFFFF. there’s a lot of things i would like to say about this book because it discusses love, the death and futility of the american dream, the inherited trauma/pain of immigrants, the despair of the working class but through it all there is a golden thread that stood out to me and it was the shared humanity. the connections with each other. the community and found family of it all. it’s so painfully human. but equally beautifully human,, there’s grief there’s pain there’s trauma but there’s also hope there’s friendship there’s life …. sometimes it really is all about kindness and love and looking after each other !! everyone is aspiring to reach a state of happiness within this capitalistic machine,, but even if we can’t reach that, we still have each other and that’s okay.
this entire novel is just trembling with love and tenderness and i just think the overall message of this book one of the most radical things u can put out in today’s society.
Pay attention to Hamlet reference at the start 🙃
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Devastating and heart wrenching. So much detail in both the setting and characters to hold onto and savor as you read. Started off slow but I became really invested in Hai’s story and the relationships he was creating, rooting for him to escape his shitty circumstances.
Contains a lot of metaphors to societal ills that I appreciated, it never felt too on the nose and made you think about how we treat each other and the hellscape that we’ve created and are complicit in. Shows a side of New England that is not readily available to the public imagination.
My only real critique is this book very much feels like it was written in 2025 with the dialogue and references, which takes you out of it a bit…I wish Vuong had stayed more true to the time period instead of allowing his modern perspective to seep in.
Contains a lot of metaphors to societal ills that I appreciated, it never felt too on the nose and made you think about how we treat each other and the hellscape that we’ve created and are complicit in. Shows a side of New England that is not readily available to the public imagination.
My only real critique is this book very much feels like it was written in 2025 with the dialogue and references, which takes you out of it a bit…I wish Vuong had stayed more true to the time period instead of allowing his modern perspective to seep in.