Scan barcode
alyssadavis's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
The children, the veal, they stand very still because tenderness depends on
how little the world touches you. To stay tender, the weight of your
life cannot lean on your bones.
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
mel_sh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
the words are honestly failing me right now
this book transcends everything that we know about what a novel should look like and transforms it into one of the most gut wrenching and lyrical reading experiences i’ve ever had. as the daughter of two immigrants of war, there was so much that hit close to home for me and as someone who didn’t know much about the Vietnam war, there is so much that i was able to learn. there are so many quotes i could have included in here, this whole book was just an absolute masterpiece.
“I am writing because they told me to never start a sentence with because. But I wasn't trying to make a sentence—I was trying to break free. Because freedom, I am told, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey.”
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
ashleyann's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Abortion
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Excrement, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Abandonment
booksarebrainfood's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol
emmaopaline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War
samarakroeger's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Abortion, and Sexual harassment
internationalreads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
caregorman's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion
iseefeelings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The narrator - Little Dog - roams in the past and present in which stories of three generations intertwine. Reading On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous invokes my turbulence in the past, how an act of endurance is (on some level) so familiar to children growing up in complex family backgrounds. The author’s marginalised identity resonates with my frustration – often rooted in the multicultural childhood I grew up with and in passive discrimination of race and social class since I moved to a new country.
Even when reading in a foreign language other than my mother tongue doesn't make the violence motif in the Vietnam War easier to indulge. Vuong scattered a few scenes of brutality which are essential to bringing out the narrator's family history yet they were all so powerful. Indeed, I had a hard time flipping through the scene of a group of men slicing the brain of a live macaque monkey.
Trauma. Sex. Death. Violence. Love. Ocean Vuong describes them masterly and his words enhanced one’s personal experiences and filled all the gaps in between — perpetually adding to one’s mind a whole picture like no other. I haven’t read much fiction in the last few years and this book pulls me back to the fascination of reading fiction: how it extends beyond your account and you live more than one life for a moment through imagination and the craft of writing. Line by line, the words appear lyrically and elliptically in Ocean Vuong's prose poem. The originality in Vuong's work is astonishing, or as a writer on Los Angeles Times put it, "an outpouring of emotion". It has the momentum of a good epistolary novel and the intimacy of a true letter which the readers only have the privilege to know in hindsight.
Towards the end of the book, there is a moment when a white man (the narrator's grandfather) utters broken words to say goodbye to his first love - the narrator’s grandmother - my heart sank and I held my tears. I don’t know why I had to hold it in, though. It’s too real.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Grief
anaya_reads's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, and War