Reviews tagging 'Grief'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

358 reviews

maess's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and War

bridgetbry's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Homophobia and Abortion

solaria's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, and War

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.5

I enjoyed this book, but occasionally found the prose to be overwrought and overly poetic. But the story and characters were very compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Grief

kesislibrary's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, War, and Classism

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Excrement, Grief, Alcohol, and War

jmarob's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

You need to listen to the audiobook version! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, and Racism

laughtrack17's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

emmafstover's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death and Car accident

savvylit'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

5.0

This novel is an incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of parental love, intergenerational trauma, burgeoning queer love, and the opioid crisis. The narrator, Little Dog, paints a deeply nuanced portrait of his life through the lens of his complicated mother-son relationship. By continuously recognizing his mother's own traumatic past, he's able to better comprehend her tendencies towards coldness and cruelty. Despite their difficulties, the love between Little Dog and his mother is obvious. At its heart, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a marvelous reminder that familial love is a complex spectrum.

More than the unforgettable content of the novel (I won't spoil it!), perhaps the best thing about this book is Ocean Vuong's overwhelming talent. Vuong's background as a poet is evident in each of his perfectly crafted, haunting sentences. Some of them were too wonderful not to share. See for yourself:

"I believe the wound is also the place where the skin reencounters itself, asking of each end, where have you been?"

"In a world myriad as ours, the gaze is a singular act: to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly."

"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. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty."

"Too much joy, I swear, is lost in our desperation to keep it."

"They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it."

"Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence - but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it."

"Because freedom, I am told, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and War