Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

845 reviews

johannashorn's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Violence

spektriva's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

This was beautiful and hard-hitting and so so heartbreaking. The critique many give this book for its lack of coherence and for how disconnected the scenes are is definitely true, I just didn't care. It even felt to me like how memories actually do, disjointed and focused on both big moments and random details. 

I loved the writing, the blend of lyrical and raw prose, as it perfectly encapsulated the beauty and crudeness of life. I may not personally relate to many aspects of the experiences of the main character, but I still felt a deep emotional connection to everything on the page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual content

angelbabe_cj'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, and Alcohol

heuteschongekurtet's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

romanticist's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Dementia

Minor: Bullying

purplehulk713's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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

3.5

That was remarkable. Effortlessly elegant and profound, Ocean Vuong is an author’s poet. Little Dog redeems himself in his reflection, it seems, recalling the beauty of Lan, Rose, and Trevor, and how that both outweighed and encompassed their horrors and wars. And it does him too. Running towards the cliff is a choice for him because he lets himself fly instead of falling off the edge. Vuong’s voice along this journey was one of the most evocative and cathartic I have ever encountered. I adored his poetic use of etymology and data to express the trauma and truth of his characters. His critique of the United States is completely on point. Vuong truly understands how language informs us just as much as we inform it. This is evident in the Hoa Nguyen quote that ends the novel:

The past tense of sing is not singed.

This book is so raw and penetrating—I recommend listening to it and reading it at the same time. But I think the real question is—will you embrace your brief beauty?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

kadtide's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

Somewhat difficult to read- the content gets pretty heavy and the literary structure can be difficult to parse

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia and War

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

Idunno I just couldn’t get into it. I was completely turned off at the abortion scene.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Abortion

madamelacy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

This book is written as a very lengthy letter from Little Dog to his mum in a language she doesn’t understand. It’s every mother’s dream to receive a letter detailing their son’s drug taking and underage sex… 

I loved the sections about his home life with his mum and grandma. I was less interested in his relationship with Trevor, because it was a bit too ‘coming of age’ for my taste.  The book jumps backwards and forwards in time, which was sometimes confusing, but I do think that this worked well.

It’s very poetic and beautiful in places, but overall it didn’t really resonate with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia and Abortion

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Vomit

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

I read this book a few months ago, so it isn’t super fresh in my mind, but my memory of it entails gorgeous poetic language, brilliantly detailed storytelling, and incredible nonfictional world-building.
Note: I vaguely pictured Edvin Ryding as Trevor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Deportation