Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

43 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book is DENSE. I had to really turn my brain on to read it, which was not a bad thing, but it did make me take much longer to read it than I expected. Like in his poetry, Vuong's descriptions are vibrant and original. My favorite aspect of his writing is I can see exactly what he is describing, even though his manner of description is unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Racism, War, Abortion, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Drug use, Excrement, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Cancer, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Minor: Gun violence, Cursing, Vomit, and Abandonment

Uses of slurs against LGBTQ+ folks

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was one of those books that I’d always heard great things about, and although I agree that Ocean Vuong’s writting was beautiful. He can draw you in and make you feel thing that are all at once love, hate, annoyance and understanding.  What a gift.  

At the same time I felt really complicated feelings around Little Dog, his relationship to his family, his relationship to Trevor and his relationship with himself.  There were times I was confused as Vuong brought us back to the past and forward to the present with no story fully complete.  However, if this is a letter to L.D.’s mother, then she’d know some of the stories so they wouldn’t need to be fully complete.  It was still sometimes a little frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Colonisation, Drug use, Homophobia, Bullying, War, and Grief

Moderate: Excrement, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Abortion, and Physical abuse

niaaaaa's review

dark hopeful reflective sad slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Blood, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Excrement, Hate crime, Classism, Bullying, Gun violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, Car accident, War, Chronic illness, Vomit, and Homophobia

sahar18's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Death, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, War, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

readbycarina's review

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Death, Addiction, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Transphobia, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Abortion and Abandonment

reemoony's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

i used to be so pretentious when it came to giving books five stars. i thought they had to check this huge list of boxes, but they dont. if you enjoy a book, give it five stars. with that being said, i dont know if i enjoyed this book. it doesnt feel like a book you’re supposed to like, but you love it anyway. its gut-wrenching and hurtful and powerful and loving. it’s everything in the universe at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, Rape, Medical content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

adawada'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Cursing, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

chiiibolaa's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, War, Addiction, Sexual content, Child abuse, Bullying, Abandonment, Drug abuse, and Death

wetdirtreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

This book absolutely lives up to the hype it’s received. And then some. It is so so so beautiful. It is also, however, truly harrowing. From start to finish.
 
It’s not (for me, at least) one of those books where you sob uncontrollably all the way through it. I cried a bit at one point. But it mostly just left me feeling completely hollow. Like a trauma response – a dissociated ‘freeze’ state. The book doesn’t offer a release from this emotional purgatory – which I assume is very intentional. To provide any relief would be disingenuous, because the pain this book articulates is still so raw, so real, so relevant. 
 
Vuong doesn’t try to offer the reader insights into Little Dog’s experience – little morsels of wisdom – like you’re watching him through a window or on a TV screen. He brings you right into it. Right into Little Dog’s remembering; his pleasure & his pain. You don’t get to just consume his story as a fun lil trauma porn fix and then walk away from it unscathed. It sticks with you. Like Gorilla Glue, that super heavy-duty stuff that’s a real bitch to get off.
 
If discomfort and tension are not things you look for in a read, then this book probably isn’t for you. However, even if you do enjoy those things, I would still highly recommend emotionally preparing yourself before reading it. I’d also recommend following it with something light-hearted and fun. Otherwise, you will just feel pain. Indefinitely. 
 
My personal storytelling practice usually seeks to destabilise comfort, not reinforce it. I often write in the hopes that people will walk away with questions, with a renewed awareness of the messy, unresolvable, undefinable nature of the world – not answers, conclusions or relief. This book does all of that. Times a thousand. And I feel honoured to have been hurt by it.

(Review originally posted on Instagram)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Death, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Excrement, Bullying, Abandonment, and Homophobia

Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, and Car accident

novella42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

I can still hear Vuong's gentle, relentless voice when I read quotes or pages from the hardcopy I finally picked up. Sometimes I read a little to remind the writer part of my brain how lyrical words work, and what kind of writer I want to be.

His author-read audiobook performance of this powerful book was nothing short of magnificent. 

A queer Vietnamese American man writes a letter to his mother, a survivor of the Vietnam War, who cannot read. His love for her, and hers for him, is ferocious and beautiful beyond words. Vuong is a poet, but strangely, I find his novel more compelling than his poetry. Tons of content warnings, to the degree I don't know when I will ever feel mentally resilient enough in my own C-PTSD to re-read it in its entirety, but if you're in the mood for a good cry, I can't think of anything more cathartic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Chronic illness, Blood, Homophobia, Car accident, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Self harm, Addiction, Sexual content, Animal death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cancer, Abortion, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Excrement, Cursing, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Gore, Pregnancy, Dementia, Suicide, Sexual assault, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Child death, Rape, Abandonment, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Body horror, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Torture, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Adult/minor relationship, War, Confinement, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder