Reviews tagging 'Child death'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

41 reviews

natalie_davies's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.25

This was a beautifully articulate bit of autofiction, one of my favourite niches in literature. It had some moving perspectives on issues and lives I'd not considered before, and read like the best prose poem. That being said, because of a few graphic sex scenes, I'm not sure it was for me.

As a piece of literature it hangs together really well, it's just not always to my taste. There were universal ideas peppered throughout that tied me to the narrative; I loved the about language and art for instance, as well as the intrinsic theme of family, but the explicit nature of some scenes left me a bit cold... I'm not 100% why that is though.
 
It could be because of my own relative disinterest in sex scenes in literature, or because seeing certain anatomical words rubbing up amongst the rest of Vuong's eloquent and graceful language felt wrong. Either way I found myself losing track of the things I cared about in the middle portion of the book, which is mainly concerned with sexual discovery with a fellow immigrant and Tabacco picker, Trevor. It picked up again after this section, once the letters had become splinters rather than whole paragraphs, but it never quite thrilled me as it did in the first 30 pages.

Quick-ish note... Feel free to stop reading, I just need to ramble. 

One thing that has definitely been impactful on my reading has been the gendered critique surrounding the text. I've seen discourse online comparing Vuong's style to that of Rupi Kaur, and taking issue with the idea of style over substance (a debate that's raged for hundreds of years). My question is; why do we consider one to be frivilous and surface level while the other is subversive and holds great beauty?

Is it because Vuong is very much subverting expectations of masculinity, having the courage to express his vulnerability, while Kaur is a of feminine expectations to ONLY dwell in these realms?

I'm not suggesting that the argument is this surface level, but it's a thought I had.... Maybe ignore this bit 🤷

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Excrement, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Grief, and Death of parent

bites_of_books's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.5

There is no question that Ocean Vuong can write. There were passages that struck deep in my core and that I can't shake. 

Little Dog is a young man who is writing a letter to his mother, telling her about many aspects of his life that he'd never told her before. We learn about his family's story in Vietnam as well as what happened as he grew up in the US. This is all told in snippets that jump back and forth between memories, almost like a structured and poetic stream of consciousness. While it was beautiful it was also violent and raw and simply overwhelming at times. 

I so wish that the structure of the novel had been a bit more linear, adding that to the poetic writing made it quite difficult to fully appreciate everything that was going on in the novel. If anything, I think this is one novel that I'll get a lot more out of upon re-reading it. 

I'd recommend it but definitely check the trigger warnings before reading, be patient, take your time, and keep an open mind for a novel that is blurring the lines between novel and poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

picoledenaranja's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and War

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child death and Gun violence

sydapel's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

There's a blurb on the back of this book that calls it "raw" and that's really all I've got to say about this story, these people, this writing. Its a book that requires revisiting, despite the heartache and suffering that almost leaks through the page, and it reminded me of the strength in remembering, of drawing beauty out of suffering, and oddly of the complex community of Hartford. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, and Colonisation

tessareads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

3.0

The story was interesting and I feel I learned a lot about Vietnam and Vietnamese Americans but I didn't like how it was written. It jumped all over the place, changed tenses (time and personal) and structure, making it hard to follow. It often started off telling one story and then went on a tangent about something unrelated and I found myself rushing through those parts to get back to the original point. Sometimes it focused way too much on particular imagery which just got a bit boring and repetitive. For me, a lot of it just felt pretentious. It felt like a lot of things were just thrown in, like the mention of friends who he hadn't mentioned previously.  Also, are we not over the bury your gays trope by now? This book was published in 2019, there was no need.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

archaicrobin's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful books I have ever read (or technically listened to). Ocean Vuoung writes beautifully and completely destroyed me at the same time. 

Written as a letter to his illiterate mother who fled Vietnam during the war, Little Dog shares his struggles growing up as a gay Vietnamese man in America at a time where tolerance was almost non-existent. You hear about his mother’s story of survival, along with that of his grandmother’s. You hear about the horrific things his family has endured and that he has endured at the hands of his family. So much emotion is in this book, it completely destroyed me. 

I highly recommend this novel and if you can, get the audiobook so you can hear Ocean’s narration of it! This is one I’ll be thinking about for awhile….

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Classism

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ru_th's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

They say if you want something bad enough you’ll end up making a god out of it. But what if all I ever wanted was my life, Ma? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Racism

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Addiction and Child death

josie9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Absolutely speechless, Vuong’s writing is truely ingenious, authentic and so freaking devastating 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

vanessa_lbl's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and War