Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra by Ocean Vuong, Claudia Durastanti

368 reviews

grace_madeleine's review against another edition

5.0

I feel like my heart has been viscerally scooped out of my body and replaced except it wasn’t replaced correctly like there’s a deep ache there after reading this like it’s touched parts of grief I never expected would be touched by a book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Bullying

alexandra296's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Written in first person with a vaguely epistolary framing but it’s not a distinct letter structure, rather a series of vignettes. The writing is simply gorgeous, very evocative.

There’s very little plot, largely a reflection on self and family, relationships, trauma etc. The lack of a strong plot through-line didn’t affect my enjoyment, especially because the writing is such expertly crafted poetry.
 
We follow Little Dog and his mother and grandmother who are immigrants to the US, which were compelling characters and also explore his relationship with Trevor. The characters are all complicated people and the dynamics between them and the narrator were definitely interesting.

Gorgeous imagery and structure, great use of motifs & juxtaposing 2 ideas that seem unrelated but are making a statement. The way people in Little Dog’s life are portrayed is at once tender & with deep pain. The language is beautiful though, so captivating. A very sad, melancholy type story but it’s so beautiful. Very reflective but brutal in parts. Definitely worth reading though, as long as you’re not looking for a distinct plot.

Only negative is I feel the tone got kinda almost TOO sad towards the third part and it felt a little tonally separate from the rest of the work to me in some areas. I guess with any body of work some parts work better than others though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia

kimisaboss123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, and War

Minor: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

zorazadiezahrah's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.0

lots of really good poetry, but struggling to find the overall message

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Addiction and War

Minor: Grief and Colonisation

ewillreadit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and War

mdavis26's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

ienbdri's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

a1exander's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Car accident, and Alcohol

carmenlavillaa's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

so super applicable to the immigrant experience and being othered and having yourself other yourself; just the style made the book for me hard to follow at points but it was structured like a faulkner book and it makes sense!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

dfram's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, and Grief