Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

81 reviews

sing_to_me_paolo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This is beautiful and I understand why it's so beloved by so many. I just struggle with a book that has so little plot momentum.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Terminal illness, Excrement, Abortion, and Colonisation

ixris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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

Devastating. As in I felt like I was destroyed several times while reading this. 

Buckle in for trauma. 

Fantastic and beautiful and painful and horrible all at once. 

I will never rec this book to anyone bc wow it's not for the faint of heart. But it was for me and I look forward to rereading in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and War

hogwallet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Terminal illness, Dementia, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

chaosbumblebee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Such a beautiful book it makes me want to go back and lower my rating of everything else so that this is the only 5 star read I have this year--or ever. Heartbreaking, poignant, perfect and imperfect, Vuong puts words to feelings I didn't know words could be put to. I need to call my mom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

vaykay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

clovetra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i really don’t know what to say about this book. i don’t think it is possible for me to convey my thoughts surrounding this book. it was breathtaking.

ocean vuong’s prose is unlike anything i’ve ever read before and is incredibly addictive. the form in which this book takes only adds to the brilliance of this story, and made me keep coming back for more.

the only “downside” in my eyes of this book is that the story’s nonlinear structure made it hard to follow at times, and the main character felt devoid of personality. it’s highly likely that those features are a metacommentary on the main character themself, but it doesn’t make me like the book any more when the reason behind choices are explained.

i quite enjoyed the characterisation of lan & rose, and seeing the effects of generational trauma was handled amazingly. i especially liked reading about lan and her relationship with little dog.

i don’t really think there’s more i know how to say. i have a lot of feelings about this book that are stuck in my head (question of the century: is it because the book is that good it’s rendered me speechless or is it because i’m on day 2 of cymbalta.. the world will never know). but this book is legendary, and deserves all the hype it has surrounding it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and War

drunkle's review against another edition

I could not read past the monkey brain scene. It was too disturbing. I wish I could continue but the truth was too dark for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Colonisation

crispycritter's review against another edition

I kept seeing these beautiful quotes from OEWBG come up on the Tumblr-esque side of instagram, but unfortunately there’s no real narrative structure holding the occasional beautiful thought together. 

I generally love 1st person stream of consciousness books with meandering or borderline non-existent plots. I don’t mind purple or highly lyrical prose. This book is basically a walking trigger warning, but even that didn’t make me put it down- because I thought the violence and horror were handled well.

This book just did not work for me. Poetry isn’t really my jam and this just felt like it should have been a collection of poems. I didn’t feel like there was much reason or justification for it being a “novel.” I dunno, perhaps auto fiction is just not for me and that’s the issue. It feels awful to say, given the heavy subject matter of this book, but it was boring. Boring and dark. And that’s not what I enjoy reading. Respectfully DNFing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

branson03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

A lovely and eloquent read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

A spiritual and emotional masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, and Classism