Reviews tagging 'Grief'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

358 reviews

clemrain's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I was not expecting sex scenes let alone the ones as graphic as the ones in the book. Beautiful writing that sometimes goes too long. But makes me excited to read the author’s poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

The sex scenes are not in there for fun. Nothing romantic about it. I skimmed or skipped over them because they were just hard to read.

the sex scenes portray internalized homophobia and really are on thin ice about consent.

b0ygenius's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

i found the first part to be slow and too disjointed and just hard to get into, and i felt that in the third part a bit too but i fell absolutely head over heels in love with the second part. like secret gay love affair, summer, teenage angst, discovering your identity???????? literally written for me. like if u look at anything i’ve ever written all of those themes are there i’m obsessed

[revisit, 3/22/22] this book stuck with me a lot more than i thought it would. revisited the second part today and yeah it still hit just as hard. absolutely gutting. perfectly captures the feeling of first love and secret relationships, especially ones where you’re young and naive and taken advantage of. the story with trevor reminds me so much of my first relationship so it just hits So hard for me. the poem at the end is just incredible too probably my favorite from vuong. so many incredible quotes from this section but “you who crawled from the wreck of summer like sons leaving their mothers’ bodies” always knocks me out. i have to physically put down the book after i read that. incredible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

lucinotlucy'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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Abortion, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

jojo_'s review

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Abortion, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Excrement, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

333va's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

loved loved loved the writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Car accident, and War

mbichaela'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? Yes

4.0

ENG
i would love to thank my friend for gifting me this book <3. this book holds a powerful yet heartbreaking story in it and it has so many beautiful quotable lines in it. this was lovely gorgeous writing, yet the story was hard to read. i'll remember this book till the end of my life because in the process of reading this my classmate died. so, i continued reading this book while i was coping with grief and it made the whole experience much more intense.

The rules, they were already inside us.

... is no longer a destination.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and War

anyname's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Blood, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content

unsaturated_phat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I have no words. One of the best book I’ve ever listened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, and War

andprevatte's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

fucking amazing. necessary reading for every human. beautiful beautiful beautiful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, and War

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, and Grief

Minor: War