Reviews tagging 'Death'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

856 reviews

laurebzrd's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

très beau (thèmes : relation de ocean vuong à sa mère, immigration vietnamienne aux US /guerre du vietnam, 1er amour gay, maladie, drogues etc) ; l’écriture est jolie/poétique mais au bout d’un moment je pense que j’étais moins touchée/que ça m’a un peu lassée

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, and War

arlobenjamin'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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Minor: Homophobia

cooltrashmagazinereadsbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I really ended up falling in love with this book. It’s such a beautifully poetic story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia

komiification's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I won't lie, but I tend to get easily distracted when listening to audio books, so there were points where I happened to tune out what was happening. That's entirely my own fault as I get used to reading in audio form, and not a fault of the book at all. I'm fact, this book is written like the most beautiful poetry, even when describing some of the most tragic and difficult events imaginable. It is not an easy book to get through, and I often thought about stopping because it really was just hard to listen to some of the things Little Dog and his family had to go through. But not all books should exist to be blatant consumer-centric entertainment, so I would urge people to pick this up, despite it not being an 'easy read'. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

maestro_cerrotorcido's review against another edition

challenging sad 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

3.0

I can see why this would be a beautiful book for people. I loved it at the beginning, and then, at some point, it became too depressing at a time it did not feel good for me to be sad. This book has also possibly made me realize I don't like books with time jumps; you get invested in one part of the story and then you are whipped away. Also the combination of the time changes with the overly artsy writing sometimes made it difficult to understand what was happening exactly. I am glad this book exists though and that so many people will see their story in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Mental illness, Grief, and Classism

adhesivedolphin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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 one of those books that's a hit to the heart with every word. Vuong has such a powerful voice and the audiobook was like being read poetry. Every short story, every aside hurt in a new and yet familiar way. Little Dog is a great narrator who has a knowledge of language that sets him apart from him his family in a way that is visceral and deeply affecting. There was so much violence done on him and it is really clear that hurt people hurt people. His pain is a legacy of pain that has been passed through his family. This one will stick with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

sugarbutterflour'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and War

_david_'s review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

It is a beautiful book about the complexity of loving someone very broken. 

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 since the poetic tone and metaphors sometimes prevented me from losing myself in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, and War

Important side characters are victims of the Vietnam war suffering from PTSS Internal homophobia by side character

fpcat99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

ifreyley's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Beautifully written, an artistic depiction of a life (or rather, multiple lives, or rather, a parent–child relationship) that feels almost like a painting. Dark subject matter and harrowing world history are littered with moments of beauty and hope, and above all the focus is love, however complicated that can be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Grief, and Pregnancy