Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra

This is a tricky book to rate. The format is quite interesting and unique, the story being broken up into little sections or "scenes", like little windows into the character's lives. While this sometimes made the narrative confusing and hard to follow, it was very effective in making the reader feel progressively more immersed into the character's lives, almost like watching a movie or a showreel of moments that on their own mean nothing, but together make a full, human picture. The writing itself was incredible and, I think, perfect for the type of story the author was trying to convey. The style was beautiful in its flowery descriptions and moving with its raw imagery. I didn't have a greater time reading this book because, while beautiful, it's also incredibly sad and depressing, so in order to preserve my sanity I kept myself from being as emotionally invested as usual. That, in itself, is proof of the quality of the book, since the story and its characters felt like real people. Overall, a great piece of fiction, I think useful for everyone to read at some point in their lives. Just be mindful of the dark subjects and trigger warnings.

Content Warnings

libraryofcam's review against another edition

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5.0

Some of the quotes I loved

“What do we mean when we say survivor? Maybe a survivor is the last one to come home, the final monarch that lands on a branch already weighted with ghosts.
[…]
To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse; both shelter and warning at once.
[…]
You're a mother, Ma. You're also a monster. But so am I— which is why I can't turn away from you. Which is why I haven’t taken god's loneliest creation and put you inside it.” (p13-14)

I don’t know if you’re happy, Ma. I never asked. (p32)

Because a bullet without a body is a song without ears. (p77)

Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood. (p78)

Do you ever wonder if sadness and happiness can be combined, to make a deep purple feeling, not good, not bad, but remarkable simply because you didn't have to live on one side or the other? (p122)

They say a song can be a bridge, Ma. But I say it's also the ground we stand on. And maybe we sing to keep ourselves from falling. Maybe we sing to keep ourselves. (p125)

Maybe we look into mirrors not merely to seek beauty, regardless how illusive, but to make sure, despite the facts, that we are still here. That the hunted body we move in has not yet been annihilated, scraped out. To see yourself still yourself is a refuge men who have not been denied cannot know. (p138)

We had decided, shortly after we met, because our friends were already dying from overdoses, to never tell each other goodbye or good night. (p169)

I'm writing you because I'm not the one leaving, but the one coming back, empty-handed. (p174)

[…] to look at something is to fill your whole life with it, if only briefly. (p175)

They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it. (p176)

The thing is, I don't want my sadness to be othered from me just as I don't want my happiness to be othered. They're both mine. (p181)

The truth is we can survive our lives, but not our skin. (p182)

You and I, we were Americans until we opened our eyes. (p185)

I miss you more than I remember you. (p186)

I'm sorry I keep saying How are you? when I really mean Are you happy? (p192)

It was beauty, I learned, that we risked ourselves for. (p208)

All freedom is relative—you know too well—and sometimes it's no freedom at all, but simply the cage widening far away from you, the bars abstracted with distance but still there, as when they "free" wild animals into nature preserves only to contain them yet again by larger borders. But I took it any way, that widening. Because sometimes not seeing the bars is enough. (p216)

I remember learning that saints were only people whose pain was notable, noted. I remember thinking you and Lan should be saints. (p219)

All this time I told myself we were born from war—but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty. (p231)

« “Hey," he said, half-asleep, "what were you before you met me?"
“I think I was drowning.”
A pause.
“And what are you now?" he whispered, sinking.
I thought for a second. "Water.” » (p237-238)

I am thinking of beauty again, how some things are hunted because we have deemed them beautiful. If, relative to the history of our planet, an individual life is so short, a blink of an eye, as they say, then to be gorgeous, even from the day you're born to the day you die, is to be gorgeous only briefly. (p238)

What we would give to have the ruined lives of animals tell a human story—when our lives are in themselves the story of animals. (p242)

Yeah that’s not all of them Ahahaha. This book was magical, a marvel. I loved it.

Content Warnings

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don’t really read poetry but I have now put Vuong’s works on hold at the library. The writing of this is incredibly lyrical almost dreamlike (or nightmare?).
I also don’t annotate books but I want a physical copy of this book to annotate because there are so many wonderful lines and quotes and more

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ellynicholem's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

sarahrosea's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? N/A

5.0

Content Warnings

sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

I honestly have no idea where to even start. this book is a gorgeous and stunning portrayal not only of motherhood and queerness but also of trying to figure out where one fits and is viewed against the rest of the world. as someone who studies ancient greek and roman texts one of the biggest questions we see figures, politicians, poets, and philosophers of the ancient world grappling with is: where are we? in the midst of violence, chaos, war, destruction, plagues, and many other issues it is hard to figure out where one stands and is viewed in relation to the world around them. it isn't just a matter of different skin colors or class status-- but it is ultimately this idea of-- not 'us v them' but 'me v them' in this incredibly tragic, heartbreaking, and beautiful way. it was really what pulled me into the classics and leaned me more heavily into the romanticism movement. as a black woman, this 'me v them' cannot be understated-- especially when living in America (a country where I belong yet never will belong to). ocean vuong takes a contemporary approach to all of these factors in a way that I have never seen it done before. this book is intense and beautiful and tragic all at once.

I'm excited for what he has in store. my only critique on this book is that I think it would have been all the more powerful if it had been a bit shorter. but hey-- you're talking to someone who reads the odyssey and the illiad.

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