Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Di Semesta Ini Kita Pernah Gemilang

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t. The first part was the best in my opinion, and I did appreciate the book’s exploration of war, immigration, parents, and queerness. Overall, I didn’t understand the sometimes overly metaphoric tangents, even though I wanted to understand what they were getting at, I didn’t. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the book and seemed like an author’s attempt to work in certain points without actually having to tie it into the story. As the book went on, graphic descriptions turned gruesome and torturous to read. I’m not one to shy away from reality or portrayals of it, but it was too much for me at times, and most of the time it didn’t seem to add to the point of the book. It was obviously written by a talented poet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

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chiaracerniglia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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ko_rax's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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cloverpye's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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purplemuskogee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

When I started reading this, I thought "Wow! 5 stars!" Then I thought "Ok, 4 stars". Now I think we are down to 3.5.

There's a lot to like about this short novel. The narrator, who writes to his mother - who, incidentally, cannot read and will never read his letter - remembers growing up with his mother and his grandmother, who nicknamed him Little Dog. Having left Vietnam after the war, his family tries to recover but still suffers from the trauma of the war. I liked his retelling of growing up marginalized, exploring his sexuality, listening to stories his grandmother tells him, his white grandfather. I felt though at times that it was trying too hard to be clever, and to be literary: the fragments, the ellipsis, the short sentences. I also could have done without his graphic depictions of animal cruelty, which I didn't think brought much to the story and were here for shock value.

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