Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

845 reviews

imrereads's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

I get why people love this book so much. Vuong writes beautifully and emotionally. Yet, I struggled. This was my third attempt reading, and I decided to l give it a last chance because the audio book was narrated by the author. It definitely helped me to listen to hos voice. It helped me "get it" more. Still, I did struggle with it even so. I think it's the jumbled timeline that get pulling me out when I got really absorbed. Still, a good book and I'm glad I got through it in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, and War

mack_n_queso's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I’ve never cried this hard from any book. Ever. I have a headache and my eyes are swollen. This letter to a mother who is imperfect, but tries her best caused me so much emotional damage. Sometimes I felt like this was a letter to my own mother. As a new mother, I was wrecked with desperation to be better for my som. This was such an intimate and raw experience that I hold so close. And even more so, the way this was written made my heart sing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Abortion, and War

lagoonablu3's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

leemonade's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective

4.25

What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. … To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once. … Perhaps there is a monstrous origin to it, after all. Perhaps to lay hands on your child is to prepare him for war. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Dementia, and War

lizziaha's review against another edition

reflective

4.0

This book has a lot of beautiful language—an abundance of quotes that I want to squirrel away and savor, returning to them again and again—but I had a hard time with the structure. I felt like I was being yanked back and forth between different narratives. (Even though the book reads like a memoir, this structure left me more confused than enlightened.) The story is dark and harrowing, but I think Vuong does a good job of really capturing joy and happiness in little moments of light throughout the story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

stuffinmybrainhole's review

challenging reflective sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

sofiehas's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

lucy12345's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, and Abortion

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and War

Minor: Gun violence and Transphobia

sercem_w_ksiazkach's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.75

This book was absolutely not for me. I didn’t like the writing style, sentences seemed disjointed and the story didn’t really have a direction. I couldn’t connect with this book, so it left no emotional impact on me, although it did for many others. A big disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

jasperdotpdf'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

4.0

the writing was stunning. i sometimes struggled getting through certain parts of the book though, especially the first part. 
the rather serious themes as well as my inability to relate to a large part of the characters‘ backstory (immigration, war) contributed to this, but to no fault of the author. i‘m just not 100% part of the target audience of this book, which unfortunately impacted my experience with it but doesn‘t make this any less good of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Abortion, and War