Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

312 reviews

maxthebeetlesheep's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A stunning book that i knew i would rate 5 stars from the very first chapter. absolutely captivating and such an important read. if i could only choose one book to read this year, it would be this one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Grief, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Blood, Cancer, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

gabriellerza's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

__vatsala_'s review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

medochan's review

Enjoyed most of the first half, but really struggled 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

They describe in rather horrifying detail how a monkey is killed and consumed.

chrisljm's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Ocean Vuong writes so beautifully and so poetically. I felt I was able to enjoy this book because I saw it less as a novel and more as a poetic memoir in the form of vignettes, which he uses to narrate his experiences growing up as a child in the United States as a Vietnamese immigrant post-Vietnam war to a parent with PTSD. Vuong's writing is so vividly melancholic and haunting, and these feelings follow even during the soft vulnerability of his childhood and youth. There's so much introspection but also a stillness as if no matter how far time and space takes you, you will always be haunted by this current time, place, and feeling. 

I want to include one of my favorite quotes from the book: "I know you believe in reincarnation. I don’t know if I do but I hope it’s real. Because then maybe you’ll come back here next time around. Maybe you’ll be a girl and maybe your name will be Rose again, and you’ll have a room full of books with parents who will read you bedtime stories in a country not touched by war. Maybe then, in that life and in this future, you’ll find this book and you’ll know what happened to us. And you’ll remember me. Maybe." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War, Homophobia, Abortion, Drug use, Bullying, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

sierrajhansen's review

challenging dark 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

2.5

i don't think i chose to read this book at a time where i would be more receptive to it (i have enough stress in my life without reading about super dark topics), but i still generally don't click with books where i'm at a low-to-medium level of confusion the entire time. i can tell the writing is beautiful, but it feels really inaccessible (which makes sense because ocean vuong's poetry generally feels the same way to me). 

and why did we keep breaking the fourth wall to talk about tiger woods???

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, Animal cruelty, War, Death, and Animal death

kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Addiction, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Sexual content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

arainey's review

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Death, Cancer, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Addiction, Physical abuse, Abortion, War, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Car accident and Dementia

elisegmusic's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This novel was absolutely stunning. Told in the format of a letter written from a son to a mother, it weaves through time, meandering through the boy’s past and present and roaming through the time before he was born through the stories told by his mother and grandmother. 

 

All the characters are lovable, though flawed, with filled out backstories and motivations - A boy growing up trying to find his identity. A mother who moves to America but cannot speak English. A grandmother with schizophrenia who isn’t quite sure where she is in the present, but tells beautiful, spiraling stories about the past. 

 

This book is poetic, but accessible, and it could easily be read in one day if you have the time. This is definitely a story I will be recommending time and time again.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

Minor: Domestic abuse, Death, and Cancer

jayg's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Death, Homophobia, Alcohol, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Drug abuse, Racism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis