Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Brevemente risplendiamo sulla terra by Ocean Vuong, Claudia Durastanti

133 reviews

montyalmoro's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Gore, Homophobia, Addiction, Abortion, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Excrement, Bullying, Car accident, Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, War, and Xenophobia

n0elle's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, War, Racism, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death, Violence, Bullying, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Cancer, Excrement, Grief, Terminal illness, War, Blood, and Child abuse

reemoony's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i used to be so pretentious when it came to giving books five stars. i thought they had to check this huge list of boxes, but they dont. if you enjoy a book, give it five stars. with that being said, i dont know if i enjoyed this book. it doesnt feel like a book you’re supposed to like, but you love it anyway. its gut-wrenching and hurtful and powerful and loving. it’s everything in the universe at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, Rape, Medical content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

cloverpye's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, War, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Cancer, Hate crime, Classism, and Gun violence

tobycohen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, War, Sexual content, Racism, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

megmahoney1's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Unlike anything I’ve  read before. Ocean Vuong’s prose is lyrical and stunning. The story he tells is beautifully immersive and heartbreaking. A story of race, class, migration, sexuality, and language. A book I’d like to revisit. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Cancer, War, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness

novella42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I can still hear Vuong's gentle, relentless voice when I read quotes or pages from the hardcopy I finally picked up. Sometimes I read a little to remind the writer part of my brain how lyrical words work, and what kind of writer I want to be.

His author-read audiobook performance of this powerful book was nothing short of magnificent. 

A queer Vietnamese American man writes a letter to his mother, a survivor of the Vietnam War, who cannot read. His love for her, and hers for him, is ferocious and beautiful beyond words. Vuong is a poet, but strangely, I find his novel more compelling than his poetry. Tons of content warnings, to the degree I don't know when I will ever feel mentally resilient enough in my own C-PTSD to re-read it in its entirety, but if you're in the mood for a good cry, I can't think of anything more cathartic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Chronic illness, Blood, Homophobia, Car accident, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Self harm, Addiction, Sexual content, Animal death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cancer, Abortion, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Excrement, Cursing, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Gore, Pregnancy, Dementia, Suicide, Sexual assault, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Child death, Rape, Abandonment, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Body horror, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Torture, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Adult/minor relationship, War, Confinement, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

solybugs's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

This book... God, this book, where do I even begin? It was an emotional and heartfelt rollercoaster, full of beautiful writing and thought-provoking metaphors. The author's poetry background comes to life in this novel, making every sentence packed with some kind of hidden message. This book does take some unexpected turns and strange offchutes in the narrative. While they were extremely important to the overall story and did make sense in the bigger picture, while reading them at the moment, it felt uncomfortable at times. But that shows the beauty of this story, that Ocean Vuong can take the darker sides of a topic (that might not even be related to the characters) and make them somehow significant to the overall story. This is a beautiful story, one I will reread to try to find more hidden meanings in Ocean's beautiful writing style. Easy 4.5/5 stars, -0.5 just because of the uncomfy parts (please read a full list of the trigger warnings before reading this book).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual content, Racism, Addiction, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

Minor: Alcoholism, War, Hate crime, Bullying, and Cancer

minnie_xx's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

really beautifully written. you can tell vuong is a poet. page 153-160 are really  special.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Dementia, Cursing, Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Death, Genocide, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Bullying, and Alcoholism

krystaltyong's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, War, Child abuse, Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Bullying, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Ableism, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content