Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

149 reviews

elissa_t's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

Ocean Vuong has a beautiful way with words, connecting life, family, nature and feeling, he seamlessly weaves together all of this in such a brilliant way. I cannot compare his writing to anything I’ve read before. Reading his struggles as a first generation kid, a gay man and dealing with death and family illness, I feel for him, but this book is written in a way that is reflective and empowering through learning and moving through these experiences. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who feels called to lean into stories of adolescence, understanding and growth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Vomit, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

jade_smith's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

This was a gorgeous novel. Perhaps the first time I’ve felt compelled to use the word “luminous” as an adjective. Ocean Vuong’s writing is breathtakingly beautiful. This is exactly the kind of so-called purple prose that I love — it straddles the line between prose and poetry so deftly. 

Part exploration of inter-generational trauma, part coming of age, part meditation on memory and the past, this is a staggering story delivered in immaculate style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

gabbyolsen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Hauntingly beautiful writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

pzrlla's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, War, and Classism

katie_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

I decided to try this book at the recommendation of a friend, and I can only describe the feeling I had while reading it as being swallowed whole. At times the main character describes himself as drowning and reading this made me feel as if I was drowning with him. He writes in such a tangible way, using everyday things to pull a memory, in the same way a smell or a song might take you back to a past experience. His thoughts aren't necessarily linear which gave the narrative a fever- dream feel at times. This book is aching and reaching, longing and regretful. But cutting through the pain are breath-giving moments of love and gentleness. Definitely a read that left me with a lot to digest and dwell on. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

deeb_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

“Some people say history moves in a spiral, not the line we have come to expect. We travel through time in a circular trajectory, our distance increasing from the epicenter only to return again, one circle removed.” (27)

Most people in my life LOVED this book. Someone I knew put it in their gender studies thesis. I liked it and really loved some parts of it, but I felt a little let down by it in other places. Perhaps this is the tragic fate of every book that arrives with a ton of hype– it’ll invariably let some people down.

The novel is split into three parts, following the coming of age of Little Dog, a Vietnamese American boy who grows up in poverty with his refugee mother and grandmother in Hartford. The first section of the book follows Little Dog’s childhood, interspersed with stories of his mother and grandmother’s lives. Some of the writing is quite beautiful and quotable, especially as Little Dog struggles to understand his often enigmatic and harsh mother. At times, though, I couldn’t help but compare it to other books/ story collections with poetic writing about intergenerational trauma like Luster by Raven Leilani or Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So. Maybe I’ve been reading too many Asian/ POC trauma books, but some of the writing about migration and family history felt a bit trite. (Like using monarch butterfly migration as an analogy for… migration?) Some parts also confused me, like one scene that interweaves flashbacks of Little Dog’s grandmother’s story with a seemingly unrelated, rather gruesome scene of a bunch of guys eating the brains of a monkey. 

To me, the second part read the strongest. It follows a teenage Little Dog and his starcrossed relationship with Trevor, an older white boy he meets while working at a tobacco farm. Here, the book is the most grounded, relaying rich sensory descriptions of Little Dog and Trevor’s temporarily idyllic summer and alternating moments of tenderness and cruelty between them. I found Little Dog’s relationship with Trevor to be the most compelling. Through their relationship, Vuong explores masculinity, coming of age, sexuality, and desire with eloquent and fresh-feeling prose. These were the parts I kept coming back to with a pencil to underline. He also captures the bleakness of life in the Northeast, especially for people like Trevor and Little Dog, who struggle with poverty and complicated or abusive relationships with their families. While readers may not necessarily agree with the choices that Trevor or Little Dog make, they still feel very human and understandable. 

The third part of the book returns to Little Dog as a young man, a burgeoning writer who has left Hartford for New York City but is still tied to the tragic ends of the people he left behind. This section again felt a bit uneven in writing quality. I enjoyed reading about Little Dog’s exploration of creative writing and its limited power, as well as the book’s continued discussion of familial memory and addiction. The writing kind of goes off the deep end in some parts, slipping into a poetic style that some people might like, but I found it a bit confusing and a detraction from the novel’s story. There are a couple extended metaphors, like one about a table that may or may not exist, that just made me throw up my hands and hope it wasn’t important.

Although this novel is billed as a story about refugee families, I think the strongest parts of it were actually the relationship subplot in the second act, and the novel’s following thoughts on masculinity, sexuality, and desire. I’ve found much stronger work about migration and its intergenerational impacts in other works, and at times I felt like Vuong wanted to write a queer coming of age novel but got pushed into making the family relationships a bigger part of the story.

From a pacing and character perspective, the book is mostly character driven, made of often nonlinear vignettes. Some of them felt a bit random at times, to be honest. As a narrator, Little Dog is not perhaps the strongest character, but I still enjoyed much of his insights. I also didn’t feel like I got much of a sense of his mother as a character, even though she is supposed to be the center and purpose of the novel. She does come across as a complex character who cares about her son in her own, occasionally misguided way, but I felt like her relationship with Little Dog didn’t feel as rich as the relationship between Little Dog and Trevor. Perhaps this is because our parents are always a bit incomprehensible to us, but I was a bit let down in this regard.

Overall, I’d still recommend this book, though with a few caveats. Some parts of it are really strong verbal gut punches, but other parts, especially the more abstract poetic ones, seem like a distraction from the actual storyline. However, I did enjoy its wrestling with topics like addiction, complicated family dynamics, and sexuality with nuance and grace.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

historyoftape's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

One of a couple of books that have nearly made me cry, the only book that had me dry-heaving at some of the imagery. And yet, so, so good. What it means to be part of a generation touched by war, by immigration and mental illness, what it means to be a child of parents who struggle with the language you now call your own, what it means to grow up during a time where OxyCotin was not regulated and seen as the wonder cure-all, what it means is to discover your sexuality and to love for the first time. What it means to survive, all of that. All wrapped in amazing imagery, lyrical narration, and extended metaphors. Will be rereading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hannahnadeshda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

kelisabeth's review

challenging emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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