Reviews tagging 'Grief'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

392 reviews

laurebzrd's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective 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? No

4.0

très beau (thèmes : relation de ocean vuong à sa mère, immigration vietnamienne aux US /guerre du vietnam, 1er amour gay, maladie, drogues etc) ; l’écriture est jolie/poétique mais au bout d’un moment je pense que j’étais moins touchée/que ça m’a un peu lassée

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, and War

komiification's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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 won't lie, but I tend to get easily distracted when listening to audio books, so there were points where I happened to tune out what was happening. That's entirely my own fault as I get used to reading in audio form, and not a fault of the book at all. I'm fact, this book is written like the most beautiful poetry, even when describing some of the most tragic and difficult events imaginable. It is not an easy book to get through, and I often thought about stopping because it really was just hard to listen to some of the things Little Dog and his family had to go through. But not all books should exist to be blatant consumer-centric entertainment, so I would urge people to pick this up, despite it not being an 'easy read'. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

maestro_cerrotorcido's review against another edition

challenging sad fast-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

3.0

I can see why this would be a beautiful book for people. I loved it at the beginning, and then, at some point, it became too depressing at a time it did not feel good for me to be sad. This book has also possibly made me realize I don't like books with time jumps; you get invested in one part of the story and then you are whipped away. Also the combination of the time changes with the overly artsy writing sometimes made it difficult to understand what was happening exactly. I am glad this book exists though and that so many people will see their story in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Mental illness, Grief, and Classism

adhesivedolphin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

This is one of those books that's a hit to the heart with every word. Vuong has such a powerful voice and the audiobook was like being read poetry. Every short story, every aside hurt in a new and yet familiar way. Little Dog is a great narrator who has a knowledge of language that sets him apart from him his family in a way that is visceral and deeply affecting. There was so much violence done on him and it is really clear that hurt people hurt people. His pain is a legacy of pain that has been passed through his family. This one will stick with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

_david_'s review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

It is a beautiful book about the complexity of loving someone very broken. 

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 since the poetic tone and metaphors sometimes prevented me from losing myself in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, and War

Important side characters are victims of the Vietnam war suffering from PTSS Internal homophobia by side character

fpcat99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

ifreyley's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

Beautifully written, an artistic depiction of a life (or rather, multiple lives, or rather, a parent–child relationship) that feels almost like a painting. Dark subject matter and harrowing world history are littered with moments of beauty and hope, and above all the focus is love, however complicated that can be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Grief, and Pregnancy

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

chellieya's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War