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therecoveringbookworm's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and War
Moderate: Homophobia and Racism
pastelmeganes's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Abortion, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Dementia, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Genocide
mahaofhyrule's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The narrative is told through the POV of Little Dog, who is a Vietnamese immigrant boy writing a letter to his illiterate mother, who is suffering from trauma from the Vietnam War. On this premise alone, I was intrigued to get right into this story.
Let me start off by saying that Ocean Vuong is a great writer. His prose is definitely one of the stronger aspects of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous which of course is a given since he is a poet after all! There were a number of quotes I marked with sticky notes while I was reading because I had a feeling they would stick me for a long time, and I truly felt like I was present in some scenes described throughout the novel.
I was pretty hooked during the beginning, however, I started to feel more disengaged towards the middle of the book. I personally don't really read poetry that much (rarely, in fact), so I think I just felt disconnected from the writing style and it made me realize I'm probably not Vuong's target audience. I could not engage with the flowery language and I felt like because I'm not a poetry reader that a lot of the "beauty" of this work went completely over my head.
This story is supposed to be a letter, and Little Dog recaps various events at different stages of his life, and here's where I experience another issue: the events are completely scattered. What I mean by that is that one moment, he's describing a time when he was a child following another boy on the playground, and then after, he's describing another moment where he's with his dying grandmother (it wasn't these two specific moments, but hopefully you get the point). Anyway, because of how these events were framed, it not only confused me often and took me out of the story, but also ruined some tension of otherwise very emotional moments.
I'm not sure what else to say here. I feel like this caters to a very specific reader and unfortunately that reader is not me.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and War
Minor: Cancer and Death
mousmoulo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and War
mariavdl's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Homophobia and Vomit
imoran's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Racism
luliloveslulo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Excrement, Abandonment, and War
fernreads42's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
readwithev's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
We watch Little Dog fall in love, watch him be bullied, but also grow into himself, like skin that he would grow into. It’s beautiful and I cannot recommend enough!
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Abortion
melanieripple's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Abortion
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, and War
Minor: Transphobia