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virtualoz's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? It's complicated
1.5
I did not enjoy this book. There were moments that I loved but I was ultimately deceived by reviews of this book. There were usually two conflicting reviews. 1. This book is artistic and profound in the way “litttle dog” explains his story to his mom who can’t read. 2. The next review says there are exquisite writing style moments but this book was trying too hard in using the style of other great masterpieces which ultimately made it pretentious, and many sections of the book felt this way. I agree with the latter. I thought the book would be more simple in its reasoning for why on earth we’re briefly gorgeous. I wanted to like this book but the more and more I read and tried to like it, the more I wanted to stop reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
libraryofcam's review against another edition
5.0
Some of the quotes I loved
“What do we mean when we say survivor? Maybe a survivor is the last one to come home, the final monarch that lands on a branch already weighted with ghosts.
[…]
To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse; both shelter and warning at once.
[…]
You're a mother, Ma. You're also a monster. But so am I— which is why I can't turn away from you. Which is why I haven’t taken god's loneliest creation and put you inside it.” (p13-14)
I don’t know if you’re happy, Ma. I never asked. (p32)
Because a bullet without a body is a song without ears. (p77)
Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood. (p78)
Do you ever wonder if sadness and happiness can be combined, to make a deep purple feeling, not good, not bad, but remarkable simply because you didn't have to live on one side or the other? (p122)
They say a song can be a bridge, Ma. But I say it's also the ground we stand on. And maybe we sing to keep ourselves from falling. Maybe we sing to keep ourselves. (p125)
Maybe we look into mirrors not merely to seek beauty, regardless how illusive, but to make sure, despite the facts, that we are still here. That the hunted body we move in has not yet been annihilated, scraped out. To see yourself still yourself is a refuge men who have not been denied cannot know. (p138)
We had decided, shortly after we met, because our friends were already dying from overdoses, to never tell each other goodbye or good night. (p169)
I'm writing you because I'm not the one leaving, but the one coming back, empty-handed. (p174)
[…] to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly. (p175)
They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it. (p176)
The thing is, I don't want my sadness to be othered from me just as I don't want my happiness to be othered. They're both mine. (p181)
The truth is we can survive our lives, but not our skin. (p182)
You and I, we were Americans until we opened our eyes. (p185)
I miss you more than I remember you. (p186)
I'm sorry I keep saying How are you? when I really mean Are you happy? (p192)
It was beauty, I learned, that we risked ourselves for. (p208)
All freedom is relative—you know too well—and sometimes it's no freedom at all, but simply the cage widening far away from you, the bars abstracted with distance but still there, as when they "free" wild animals into nature preserves only to contain them yet again by larger borders. But I took it any way, that widening. Because sometimes not seeing the bars is enough. (p216)
I remember learning that saints were only people whose pain was notable, noted. I remember thinking you and Lan should be saints. (p219)
All this time I told myself we were born from war—but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty. (p231)
« “Hey," he said, half-asleep, "what were you before you met me?"
“I think I was drowning.”
A pause.
“And what are you now?" he whispered, sinking.
I thought for a second. "Water.” » (p237-238)
I am thinking of beauty again, how some things are hunted because we have deemed them beautiful. If, relative to the history of our planet, an individual life is so short, a blink of an eye, as they say, then to be gorgeous, even from the day you're born to the day you die, is to be gorgeous only briefly. (p238)
What we would give to have the ruined lives of animals tell a human story—when our lives are in themselves the story of animals. (p242)
Yeah that’s not all of them Ahahaha. This book was magical, a marvel. I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Grief, and War
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
a_alves00's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and War
wrackcity's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide
Minor: Racism
annacanreadsometimes's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Suicide
teo_rodas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
I loved the poetic voice of this book, I felt the rhythm of the prose and it really carried some of the heavier moments. I listened to it as an audiobook and I would strongly recommend that. The observational voice of the book was really compelling to me.
Content Warnings
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
prism_'s review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and War
bookishredpanda'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was a masterful book, obviously written by a poet. The language is beautiful. It is probably the best written book I've ever read. It is sad and lyrical and spirals into itself as it spins a tale of lifetimes. It is not an easy book, though. It contains war, death, madness, addiction, being an outsider, LGBTQ struggles, and so much more. It will wrap you in melancholy while amazing you with its language. I can't wait to read more by this author. My book has so many flags in it of lines and passages I loved. Incredible. Probably not for everyone, but I thought it was a masterpiece.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Bullying
yashe96's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt
rachelmack__'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Abortion, and War