Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

78 reviews

rgrgrg's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

jasminawithab's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

imo there was absolutely no need for that many explicit sex scenes and its the main reason I'm not rating it higher. the writing in the sex scenes honestly felt like a wattpad fanfic and it felt so out of place next to the rest of the books stunning poetic, flowery language.
the book is set in 3 parts; part one was the best and its the part i resonated with the most (i cried multiple times cause i did not expect to be seen like that). I think you could remove most, if not all, of part 2 and the book would not be any different. Part 3 was fine but it felt disjointed at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual content, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was one of those books that I’d always heard great things about, and although I agree that Ocean Vuong’s writting was beautiful. He can draw you in and make you feel thing that are all at once love, hate, annoyance and understanding.  What a gift.  

At the same time I felt really complicated feelings around Little Dog, his relationship to his family, his relationship to Trevor and his relationship with himself.  There were times I was confused as Vuong brought us back to the past and forward to the present with no story fully complete.  However, if this is a letter to L.D.’s mother, then she’d know some of the stories so they wouldn’t need to be fully complete.  It was still sometimes a little frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Excrement, Abortion, and Abandonment

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.5

This is absolutely beautifully written and absolutely heart wrenching.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content, Colonisation, and War

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Excrement, Vomit, and Abortion

killeenm's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t. The first part was the best in my opinion, and I did appreciate the book’s exploration of war, immigration, parents, and queerness. Overall, I didn’t understand the sometimes overly metaphoric tangents, even though I wanted to understand what they were getting at, I didn’t. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the book and seemed like an author’s attempt to work in certain points without actually having to tie it into the story. As the book went on, graphic descriptions turned gruesome and torturous to read. I’m not one to shy away from reality or portrayals of it, but it was too much for me at times, and most of the time it didn’t seem to add to the point of the book. It was obviously written by a talented poet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

giulia_rossi's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Abortion, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

raelong12's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Classism

mmiirrpp's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad

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

5.0

This is one of my favourite books of all time. Reading this book felt like I was being gripped by the shoulders and forced to look at my life up close through Ocean Vuong's poetic musings on his own. 

While this book did touch me deeply I would warn people, particularly survivors of abuse and POC, that this book can be painful to read at times and to check the content warnings left by other reviewers. I couldn't finish it the first time around, nor could the majority of my queer Asian friends that I recommended it to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Outing, Colonisation, and War

broccoli_mmm's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

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

5.0

“To be an American boy, and then an American boy with a gun, is to move from one end of a cage to another”

“They say nothing lasts forever but they’re just scared it will last longer than they can love it”

Absolutely beautiful. Please read this i am begging you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism