Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

710 reviews

n7n0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

so berührend. irgendwie hat ocean vuong auf diesen paar seiten einmal über alles geschrieben, inklusive dem schreiben selbst. ich wusste nicht immer worauf genau eine passage hinauswill, umso erfrischender, dass er selbst manchmal schreibt „i don‘t know what i mean by that“ als finden wir gemeinsam heraus was da liegt und entdeckt werden mag. heavy heavy heavy und gleichzeitig so leicht und angenehm, nie pathetisch. hab noch nie ein so poetisches buch gelesen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Abortion, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, and Car accident

kimbeentjes's review against another edition

inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

mishsofil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, not my usual style of book, but after finishing chapter 1 i knew i had to read the whole thing because of the writing.
I’m not a literature student at all but if i was, i swear i would be highlighting and analysing every single sentence. Every line is so beautiful and packed with meaning, its almost hard to wrap your head around it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Death

Minor: Homophobia, Xenophobia, and War

vaykay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jenna0818's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Just amazing, the most beautiful yet accessible prose and reflections on the human experience, woven through a hazy nonlinear sequence of vignettes. I cried and learned so much, felt true feelings that connect me to generations of humans across space and time. thank you, sorry I didn’t read this sooner!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, and War

kain47's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hilary_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

It was sad how much I could relate to parts of this book and the narrators life. Although it is relatively slow paced, this book contains some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever layed my eyes onand got me leaving anotations on every other page. Just a heads up as I wasn’t warned of this before, but there’s a lot of sexual content, just something to keep in mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia

e_r_q's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

"because tenderness depends on how little the world touches you. To stay tender, the weight of your life cannot lean on your bones."

What Ocean Vuong has achieved here is insane.
The way he interweaves complex symbolism, through the dreamy non-linear structure and his hypnotically poetic writing, is just phenomenal. And it all comes together with that moving culmination at the end, where he poignantly ties the various animal symbols together.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a gut-wrenching and melancholic meditation on immigration, the Asian-American experience, the American dream, war, trauma, grief, addiction, family and sexuality. But most essentially, it's a book about belonging: Little Dog feels irrevocably estranged from Vietnam, from America and even his own family (on account of his mother's abusive behaviour).
It's magnificent. I wish I could write something like this.

"I was a gaping wound in the middle of America and you were inside me asking, Where are we? Where are we, baby?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

cmwilliams29's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.0

I tore through this one. Rather astonishing—and a bit of a thinker. I don’t entirely know what I’ve just read and somehow it’s ok. It’s beautiful and thought-provoking and I will be sitting with it for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, and War

ebrooker0103's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, and War