Reviews tagging 'Grief'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

358 reviews

sorcha's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, and Pregnancy

aliciae08'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

4.0

This was one of those books that I’d always heard great things about, and although I agree that Ocean Vuong’s writting was beautiful. He can draw you in and make you feel thing that are all at once love, hate, annoyance and understanding.  What a gift.  

At the same time I felt really complicated feelings around Little Dog, his relationship to his family, his relationship to Trevor and his relationship with himself.  There were times I was confused as Vuong brought us back to the past and forward to the present with no story fully complete.  However, if this is a letter to L.D.’s mother, then she’d know some of the stories so they wouldn’t need to be fully complete.  It was still sometimes a little frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Excrement, Abortion, and Abandonment

mxlodique's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.75

Probably my favourite book I've read so far.
It's not at all a "regular" book, meaning that it's much more focused on the characters rather than on telling a common story with a plot. It jumps from flashback to flashback quite abruptly I'd say, which at first might be unsettling.
It tells a variety of stories: from the war in Vietnam, to domestic abuse, to living as an immigrant in an unknown country, to sexuality and sex, to drug abuse and death.
I personally loved it.
For my foreign readers/non native english speakers: If you're not really fluent in English this book might be a bit challenging, I'd say I'm a B2 and at times I found it difficult to understand. I'd suggest reading it in your native language if you're not confident in English, it's truly a beautiful novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Excrement

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

This is absolutely beautifully written and absolutely heart wrenching.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Colonisation, and War

montyalmoro's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

fengxin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

hannahga's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.75

This book is very different from what I typically read. It was very literary if that makes sense. Ocean Vuong spins language in a beautiful way. Words and phrases and sentences get tangled up and then he pulls them straight again with ease. That doesn't even make sense but idk how else to describe it! It was all just very poetic. The content of the book was pretty heavy so it took me a month to read which is crazy for how short it is, but I'm glad I stuck with it and read the whole thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, and War

It is HEAVY and deals with a lot of intense topics.

leoniekross's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? N/A

3.5

Took me a month to read, partially because the subject matter at times was very challenging to read through and partially because of the ebb and flow of how much the book sucked me in. The author is know for a writing style bursting with metaphors and imagery which I found well-done throughout most of this book but veering into bloated towards the end. I didn't vibe at all with the last 30 or so pages but the beginning is wonderful. As you can see, I find it truly hard to make up my mind about this book in its entirety but I will say that my mom enjoyed it, for what it's worth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, and Blood

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

emotional 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Excrement, Vomit, and Abortion

cobwebshelves's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Excrement

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War