Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

71 reviews

alannahberkeley's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, and War

nehaanna's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book rides the fine line between poetry and novel, book and art. Sometimes the line between abstract free form poetry is blurred, and the narrative runs together. But somehow the story is preserved. The premise of the book is to answer the question of a displaced Vietnamese woman - who am I? Where are we? However, the question is answered in snapshot for from the voice of her son, who writes to her in the form of letters. It is an impossible paradox - the mother does not speak or write English and did not learn enough of her native tongue to pass it down to her son. So the son, the first generation in America, is forced to converse in a foreign language. 

The journey the son, Little Dog goes through takes one through everything from domestic abuse, child abuse, bullying at school from other children, internalized misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, racism, drug use, and death. The definitions of family, lover, friend, and more are all reassessed, reframed, readdressed. This boy longs for recognition more than anything, searching for identity in the swath of the US ravaged by cycles of poverty, abuse, drug use, and drug crises. There is freedom in telling one’s story but also an act of taking, of possession, something not afforded often to everyone equally.

In all, this is a stunning debut novel that may read as too high brow, pretentious, vulgar, or debasing to some. But that is life, is it not? That is what storytelling allows us to do. While I definitely struggled at times when the story used abstract poetry or the narrative switched timelines, I still came away from this novel knowing more language to put to experiences. Which is the greatest gift this novel can give. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Homophobia, and Colonisation

_moony00_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Firstly, the writing style hit me hard. It's so beautifully written! When I discovered the author is a poet it immediately made sense. 
This is valuable to the novel but it's also its main flaw. I struggled to follow the story, because I kept being hijacked. 
I love a plot driven novel such as a character driven one. I feel like this novel is neither. 
It resonated with me on certain levels, but the confusion is stronger in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Colonisation, and War

smors101's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Such an amazing look at the life of generational trauma triggered by war through the eyes of the youngest generation. His way with words are magical. His awards absolutely deserved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

casserole_cg's review against another edition

i wanted to love this so badly but it’s just not for me 😔 the writing is gorgeous though and i can acknowledge the depth of skill in these pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Car accident

Minor: Miscarriage

jadamichellemather's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

holy shit this book took me so long to get through for how short it was!! this author really likes the sound of their own voice and comes across very pretentious. lots of fake deep poetry that I guess would sound good if I was an edgy 14 year old.  and holy shit (literally) there was way too much talk of poop and “piss” for one singular book. also horrific animal mutilation that came on so suddenly and was so shocking and out of place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Excrement, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

tellatrix's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

𝐎𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬

𝙾𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚅𝚞𝚘𝚗𝚐

Disclaimer: I’m unable to write reviews without including spoilers, so please read this expecting some.

This is a book I know I’ll need to reread at least two more times to fully grasp all the layers of meaning and messages the author is trying to convey. While I understood the main plot, the metaphors, poetry, and deeper themes often felt elusive. The connections between scenes and ideas required careful attention, and sometimes I got lost in the beautiful, yet intricate, web of words.

Maybe after reading more books, learning new words, or gaining more life experience, I’ll be able to fully understand what Ocean Vuong was trying to say. Right now, I can’t. If someone asked me what this book was about, I don’t think I could give a clear, straightforward answer.

If I said this book was about a Vietnamese family carrying the violence and trauma of war within them—something that shaped them, tormented them, and yet also made them beautiful—would that make sense? Probably not, and even if it did, it wouldn’t come close to capturing the complexity of the story.

This is a book you have to experience for yourself. Even then, you might not find all the answers on your first read—just like me. But I know I’ll revisit it. Each time, I hope to uncover new layers, new words to explain what this book means.

For me, though, this book wasn’t as sad as some might say. I found it more hopeful. Others may disagree, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of hope running through it. Hope for what? I’m not sure. Maybe it wasn’t hope tied to action or outcomes—just hope as a feeling, a quiet presence.

I’ll end this review with a quote that stayed with me the most from my reading: 

 “I miss you more than I remember you.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, and War

pigeonsarecool's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Deportation

Minor: Cancer

whatdidtizzleread's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This is not a casual read that you can just blow through. This is a book that you tear chunks from, chew on, break it down, let it sit then swallow it. 

I think this book is for someone who wants to take the time to make the connections, analyze the structure and writing. If you're not that personality then this novel might just piss you off and come off obnoxious. 

Spoilers ahead.

I find it hard to rate this book as well. It is complex on purpose. As if it is meant to be inaccessible. I think that's where you start to get into pretentious/obnoxious vibes that other readers have mentioned. There's a lot of recurring themes and motifs, tied in with extended metaphors. The table metaphor at the end I'm still struggling to really understand. Part of me is defaulting to that's lame, but another part is thinking it's probably beyond me.

I'm most confused why the gritty sexual details needed to be included in a letter to his mother. It didn't seem to fit the relationship that he was building throughout. And in fact, there was a middle section where it was mostly focused on Trevor which felt out of focus for the book. There was a lot of content shoved in the story and I feel like it overcomplicated something that didn't need to be. However, I think the point is that by writing to his mom about the things he loves (Lan, her, Trevor, writing, Hartford) they are all acts of honour because he loves her. Writing about love to someone you love, demonstrates how deep the love you have is. I'd say the scene where they confess parts of themselves to each other is what this whole book is.

What's interesting is I feel like the reader is deprioritized in this book. We don't really matter. Whether we get it or not doesn't matter. We're just voyeurs - and it really felt like weird trauma porn voyeurism. This book that is apparently a letter to his mom, where he lays out all the shitty things that have happened to his grandmother, mother, Trevor, and himself and somehow it has to do with love. 

There's a small part of me that is judging the content as quite exploitative. 

All that aside? There is no doubt that Ocean can write. He can WRITE. There were a lot of lines I highlighted in my mind that really made me think. I thoroughly enjoyed the actual words and way the sentences were built. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and War

chaosbumblebee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Such a beautiful book it makes me want to go back and lower my rating of everything else so that this is the only 5 star read I have this year--or ever. Heartbreaking, poignant, perfect and imperfect, Vuong puts words to feelings I didn't know words could be put to. I need to call my mom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism