Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

217 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to like this book, I really did. And some of it was incredible! I loved the unique formatting, a son's letter to his mother brought a very emotional approach to the writing, and also a perspective that is so interesting. Letters are very intimate, and that is definitely how the book presents, in emotion but also in what the letter-writer is choosing to share (especially with a mother). I also really loved the formatting, almost like a poem but in prose, and you can tell when you're reading that the author is skilled in poetry. So yes, I definitely think this book is all that people say it is: deep, emotional, tragic, and beautiful. 

That being said, I don't really think this is for me... it honestly felt a bit like trauma porn at times, which is probably an unfair thing of me to say because I understand that an entire facet of poetry is making tragedy beautiful (/s), but I found myself almost wanting to roll my eyes at times. Idk. Also, I know this is coming from the perspective of written correspondence, and that definitely changes how a person talks about themselves/their experiences/reality, but I genuinely just got very sick of the main character, Little Dog. And towards the end, the poetry-as-prose format got very old for me. There's not anything specifically wrong with it, per se, I just didn't like it. I think maybe it would've held up better if it was shorter, but I'm almost like there's a reason why poems are short. 

I may read something else from the author, maybe some of his poetry, because the content of this book was super interesting to me. I think I would have liked this better had I been in a different mood, but I am not, so... 2 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Xenophobia, War, Racism, and Sexual assault

ewillreadit's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Racism, Hate crime, Grief, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Cancer, Addiction, and War

kjofalltrades's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Cancer

Moderate: Gun violence, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and War

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

delliomellidom's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

3.5

It is a beautifully written book; I am in love with the author's prose. The story was non-linear, which made certain portions difficult to know where exactly they fit into the story.

I hadn't known there would be Graphic animal abuse and death. I could have done without it.

There is graphic sex, which was fine with me, but still a little unexpected.

This story is going to stick with me, and I don't doubt there are specific portions I'll be revisiting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion

sunscanid's review

emotional sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

if you're considering reading this, do it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Homophobia, Drug use, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

abbiemaines's review

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

Beautiful writing, but I did not deeply resonate with the content of with what was discussed so I didn’t feel as emotionally impacted as many others likely would. I felt empathy for the characters but struggled to connect with them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

drrayeraye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, War, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

alinabkl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Drug abuse, Abortion, Gun violence, Racism, War, Bullying, Drug use, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Grief, Mental illness, and Colonisation

gaypoetree's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

wa wa wa wa waaaaaa. I love poets! I LOVE POETS!!!!! I AM CRYING OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me start by saying: when some people criticize the book as “too lyrical,” I understand and in some sense even agree. There are definitely lines in there that feel like they were inserted just because they sound poetic (though Vuong perhaps mocks this himself at one point, saying “that meant nothing but you have it now”), but that is very few lines in an almost frustratingly tightly-woven work. In some sense, those lines were a relief to me. I could brush something aside.

I don’t seek to rate books by perfection; that’s silly. Five stars, to me, is a work that made me consider the world in new ways, feel big feelings, and that I would– WILL– eagerly return to again and again. Check, check, check. Five-star book. The only book I own that is more dog-eared or underlined than this is the book that I used while writing my undergrad capstone.

To avoid this being too long, let me rest on what truly impressed me about the novel, and what edges it into prose poem territory in my mind: the very basic structure of the story reflects its overwhelmingly myriad and complex themes. I don’t just mean the way the switch between tenses relates to the conflict of switching between languages with different relationships to time, or how the invocation of parataxis as a poetic form also renders the characters as different images somehow modifying one another. I mean the little things, too. Theme: writing as a form of liberation that, yet, was given to the narrator by the oppressive culture. Expression: a repeated callback to beginning sentences with “and” or “because” (a thing he was taught never to do) in moments of resistance or of joy. Theme: navigating multiple languages of care, some of which are at odds with each other, often all at once. Expression: The abandonment of the epistolary form into something more obviously poetic when the narrator begins to speak of a personal trauma which is not familial, which his mother does not necessarily share. 

I need to stop before I get too excited again. Yeah dude. Good book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Drug abuse, Addiction, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Homophobia

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

tom_c's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, War, and Addiction