Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

845 reviews

sarahrosea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Transphobia and Murder

isadreamsof's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I think Ocean Vuong is a great writer, and an intelligent one at that. There were passages I felt for enough to write down and reflect on, because Vietnamese or not, he still talks about things that hit home for the readers. My one qualm with this is that it’s a lot slower than I anticipated, but I should have expected that from a book that’s described as “a letter from a son to a mother who can’t read”. That being said, the format of the novel works really well for the writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Domestic abuse

krystalgaia's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

This book took me a long time to finish because, on top of me being busy, Vuong's words seem to be multilayered. I couldn't get past a page without annotating almost every other sentence. I think that's because he's trained in writing poetry, so he took his time in finding the right words and metaphor and imagery to put on paper, and as a reader, it's my job to strip it off until all that's left is its meaning, its core.

I enjoyed the writing style: a mix of essayistic, prosaic, and poetic. Very introspective, which is right up my alley. The way the whole story is a letter and is structured in vignettes made me feel like I was following Vuong's natural stream of consciousness, but I was never lost the way most stream-of-consciousness stories had made me feel.

The only thing that's keeping me from giving this a full five stars is the dialogue. There are parts, especially with Rose's and Lan's dialogue, that seemed more like Vuong's own voice rather than his mother's and grandmother's. This is noticeable on the first part, but as the book progressed, the dialogue became more natural to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Self harm

cnowery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Racism

lland's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia and Xenophobia

shoohoob's review

emotional reflective sad tense 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

Such a unique book in many ways. Part of me wished I would have read it instead of listening to it, but there was something unique in hearing the book portrayed exactly how the author wanted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Death of parent

forthe_girlwhowaited's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, and War

sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

lilyjoy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Excrement, and Abortion

demonbaby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This book is brilliant, it’s devastating, it’s impactful. Every word masterfully illustrates a boy’s struggles with love, death, and growing up in a place where he will always be the other. It’s perfect. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Drug abuse