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ru_th's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
They say if you want something bad enough you’ll end up making a god out of it. But what if all I ever wanted was my life, Ma?
Graphic: Drug use and Racism
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Addiction and Child death
lhanicova's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, and War
luananki'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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Abortion
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: War
teo_rodas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
katrinasherise'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? No
Graphic: Child abuse and Drug abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol
bedsidecompanion'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
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and War
xdaxotax'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
higherwvrlvck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This novel was heartbreaking. Although the primary story was about the main character, Little Dog, his mother, Rose, and his grandmother, Lan, it was also about his friend and lover, Trevor, his grandfather, Paul, and the character of the town Hartford, Connecticut and all those people it contained.
I read this book in about three to four days. Once I began, I could not stop. Vuong's language is captivating for both its beauty and relentlessness. Ocean Vuong puts on display the pain and the joy of having an immigrant mother who suffered through the Vietnamese War and domestic abuse. Vuong examines different standards of sexuality and masculinity in Little Dog and Trevor. He expresses resistance, his anger in words but continually recognizes language's failure to fully capture everything we want to say.
Stories by people of color tend to have this expectation of the characters of color be heroes, pick themselves up by the bootstraps, fight back, and achieve success, but Vuong simply tells it the way it is. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous depicts Asian American life from an Asian American voice. This should be enough. Bodies of color are not just faces for a movement, but lives worthy of being documented in Literature. Ocean Vuong does just this.
There are many, many topics of discussion in this novel. Depending on the emotional maturity of students, I think this would be a wonderful book to use in a high school world literature class and of course could be used in college curricula. I have heard many teachers argue that we don't read as many works by people of color because of time and lack of literary achievement, but Ocean Vuong has done both in this debut novel. I will forever cherish this story, and I can't wait to come back to it again.
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, and Alcohol
nouraomran'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
3.75
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Homophobia
i_dont_knoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Drug abuse and Sexual content
Minor: Domestic abuse and Homophobia