Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

326 reviews

natgoe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, War, Mental illness, Addiction, Racism, Abortion, and Gore

greenan26's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Homophobia, Sexual content, Biphobia, Racism, Grief, Mental illness, Classism, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Moderate: War and Xenophobia

molthetroll's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, War, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual content, Racism, Mental illness, Violence, and Addiction

sadiaa's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

grcompain's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

Vuong’s story is as deep and captivating as his writing style. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story that keeps you down allowing you to come up for only brief and humorous pockets of air. This story was real and vivid. The writing was very poetic and the imagery provided, drops the reader right into the scene in the best and worst ways. I personally disliked the amount of the gruesome and gory details (animal abuse and body horror) which of course added emotional value but also distracted from the rest of the page. I found my mind stuck on horrible images long after turning the page. This book is beautiful and fearlessly describes the gorgeous, and the terrible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Abortion, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Racism

kayleajayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.25

This is a beautifully written book. It would be a five, but I’m really not a fan at explicit sexuality and in this book, there are parts that are too explicit. But the way Vuong writes is magical. Absolutely breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Abortion, Animal cruelty, War, Xenophobia, Addiction, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, and Racism

luliloveslulo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

The tone of this book is so poetic, it can guide you to flow through even the most difficult passages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Blood, Child abuse, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, War, and Excrement

melanieripple's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Abortion, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, War, Death, Grief, Racism, and Mental illness

Minor: Transphobia

etherealisnt's review

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

First time reading something like this. I have to say I'm rather surprised with myself.

This was more of a tough read, at moments it was a lot, but the flow of the book made seamless transitions from paragraph to paragraph. It still left me confused at times, even lost. Not totally jarring, but took me out of the story a few times.
Definitely left some heavy feelings at some parts - it was very raw and organic. Quite strange to understand and not know. 

In Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same: nhớ. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, "Có nhớ mẹ không?" I flinch, thinking you meant, "Do you remember me?"

I miss you more than I remember you.

The ending had much more of that foreboding element, I suddenly felt on edge. That's when I started feeling like I had a literal rocks stuck inside my rib-cage, when they moved I suddenly felt sick. It was sad, but a better word would be painful. A painfully beautiful story of living, despite everything.

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, 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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Child abuse, War, and Violence

Minor: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Abortion, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

hsitbeenworthit's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Bullying, Car accident, Gun violence, Blood, Cancer, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Excrement