Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

367 reviews

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

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

kellyung's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Cancer

cloud_animals's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Cancer and Racism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Terminal illness, and Car accident

milagrg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cecireads'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Abortion, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Domestic abuse

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, and Excrement

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and War

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

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

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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

Ocean Vuong uses the English language in a more lyrical way that pretty much any other writer I can think of. His prose in this book is just as gorgeous as his poetry that I've read, and the way he connects concepts and images is breathtaking and heartbreaking by turns. 

The use of the second person was striking and affecting. The novel is written as a letter from Little Dog to his mother, Rose, but the overall effect is basically a dual narrator situation. It works beautifully. 

The content is difficult. I knew it would be. It's very much a mommy issues book, which is what I expected from Vuong based on his poetry collections. 

It would be wrong to say that I enjoyed this. I didn't. I appreciate Vuong's craft. I was deeply moved by many aspects of the story. I was triggered and brought to tears. I thought a lot about family and identity. But it's not an enjoyable book. It's deeply harrowing.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is also autobiographical enough that I would feel weird about giving it a star rating, so I'm simply not going to at this time. 

NOTE: This book does contain sexual scenes between teenagers. These scenes are not written for the titillation of readers and are instead in service to the characters' development, but I still think it's wise to warn readers of this going in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

I'm sure there are a lot of other content warnings that I'm missing, so please proceed with caution and care.

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

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

vrcreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Violence, and Xenophobia