Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

346 reviews

heuteschongekurtet'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

purplehulk713's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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

3.5

That was remarkable. Effortlessly elegant and profound, Ocean Vuong is an author’s poet. Little Dog redeems himself in his reflection, it seems, recalling the beauty of Lan, Rose, and Trevor, and how that both outweighed and encompassed their horrors and wars. And it does him too. Running towards the cliff is a choice for him because he lets himself fly instead of falling off the edge. Vuong’s voice along this journey was one of the most evocative and cathartic I have ever encountered. I adored his poetic use of etymology and data to express the trauma and truth of his characters. His critique of the United States is completely on point. Vuong truly understands how language informs us just as much as we inform it. This is evident in the Hoa Nguyen quote that ends the novel:

The past tense of sing is not singed.

This book is so raw and penetrating—I recommend listening to it and reading it at the same time. But I think the real question is—will you embrace your brief beauty?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

miyothecat'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Racism

saskiahill's review against another edition

I couldn't keep up with the intertwining paragraphs focusing on different stories, and then there was a scene involving some pretty gruesome treatment of an animal that just put me off altogether. I think if I was in a different mood I'd have persisted because I've heard good things, but I'm reading other books at the moment that held my interest more easily

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Alcohol

mischorda's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Abortion

madamelacy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? Yes

3.0

This book is written as a very lengthy letter from Little Dog to his mum in a language she doesn’t understand. It’s every mother’s dream to receive a letter detailing their son’s drug taking and underage sex… 

I loved the sections about his home life with his mum and grandma. I was less interested in his relationship with Trevor, because it was a bit too ‘coming of age’ for my taste.  The book jumps backwards and forwards in time, which was sometimes confusing, but I do think that this worked well.

It’s very poetic and beautiful in places, but overall it didn’t really resonate with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia and Abortion

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Vomit

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I read this book a few months ago, so it isn’t super fresh in my mind, but my memory of it entails gorgeous poetic language, brilliantly detailed storytelling, and incredible nonfictional world-building.
Note: I vaguely pictured Edvin Ryding as Trevor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

crdostaler's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Death, Racism, and Grief

roouija's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

anacardosolouren's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death