Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

143 reviews

janineledet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

A young man pens a letter to his mother explaining their complicated relationship, his sexuality, and how his past and dramatically impacted his current perception about life. Poetically written this unbearing of the soul is heart-wrenching to read, particularly since the actions of those at fault are simply a consequence of their own past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Abortion

marena02's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

alondere's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

fernaissante's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Xenophobia, and Abortion

Minor: Racial slurs

siebensommer's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

what is a country but a life sentence?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Mental illness, Medical content, and War

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Such a beautifully written book - poetry thought not poetry. Full of sadness and trauma but also full of hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Abortion, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

elliotlea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

mahaofhyrule's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

2.75

I really wish I could give this more stars, because at its core I think the message of this story is heartbreaking in the most beautiful way. However, as a story, I wasn't the most engaged reader.

The narrative is told through the POV of Little Dog, who is a Vietnamese immigrant boy writing a letter to his illiterate mother, who is suffering from trauma from the Vietnam War. On this premise alone, I was intrigued to get right into this story.

Let me start off by saying that Ocean Vuong is a great writer. His prose is definitely one of the stronger aspects of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous which of course is a given since he is a poet after all! There were a number of quotes I marked with sticky notes while I was reading because I had a feeling they would stick me for a long time, and I truly felt like I was present in some scenes described throughout the novel.

I was pretty hooked during the beginning, however, I started to feel more disengaged towards the middle of the book. I personally don't really read poetry that much (rarely, in fact), so I think I just felt disconnected from the writing style and it made me realize I'm probably not Vuong's target audience. I could not engage with the flowery language and I felt like because I'm not a poetry reader that a lot of the "beauty" of this work went completely over my head.

This story is supposed to be a letter, and Little Dog recaps various events at different stages of his life, and here's where I experience another issue: the events are completely scattered. What I mean by that is that one moment, he's describing a time when he was a child following another boy on the playground, and then after, he's describing another moment where he's with his dying grandmother (it wasn't these two specific moments, but hopefully you get the point). Anyway, because of how these events were framed, it not only confused me often and took me out of the story, but also ruined some tension of otherwise very emotional moments.

I'm not sure what else to say here. I feel like this caters to a very specific reader and unfortunately that reader is not me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and War

Minor: Cancer and Death

carolinacortez's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

"what I left behind becomes exactly what I'm running toward -- like I'm part of a family." 

Tengo que ser honesta, es un libro complicado de leer, no es una lectura que se lea en una sentada (aunque es cortito), es prácticamente poesía en forma de novela, entonces mi recomendación sería que se lea despacito, disfrutando cada palabra de Ocean. 

"The wound is also the place where the skin reencounters itself, asking of each end, where have you been? 
Where have we been, Ma?" 

Cada párrafo, cada capítulo, cada oración, son hermosos, yo no podía dejar de decir 'no puede ser' de lo bello que está escrito y se ve el amor que hay detrás de cada palabra, que pensó la mejor manera de mostrar una parte de la vida de mucha gente. 

"Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. Buy if you were god, you know it's a flood."

En cuanto a las relaciones (tanto con su mamá, abuela, como con Trevor) están súper marcadas las diferencias, como la personalidad de little dog se moldaba según con quién estaba, según lo que la otra persona necesitará de el (muy mirrorball de su parte) 

"You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing" 

En resumen es una novela preciosísima, solo hay que tener en cuenta que requiere su tiempo para digerirla bien. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Death and Abortion

peggymay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War