Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

344 reviews

pastlifetragedy's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, Death of parent, Abortion, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Confinement, Classism, Excrement, Dementia, Cancer, Blood, and Vomit

amandamuchmoreparker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, and Violence

ani_raven's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Addiction

Minor: Cancer

earthsigil's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Abortion, Drug abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Racism, War, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Transphobia

thesoftestcowboy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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: War, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, Drug abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Cancer, and Animal death

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Misogyny, Mental illness, Sexism, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Drug use, and Addiction

nadiadhansen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

this is a beautifully written, very lyrical and deeply sad and at times very touching autobigrafical fiction...

and i really wanted to like it a lot more - it has all the things i usually love, queer themes, minority perspectives, genre pushing.. but i have to admit the tangents were confusing to me a lot of the times, and i dont usually have a hard time following stories. i've seen other people write that they missed a narrative they could 'follow', a more gathered story, so you could know where you were going and i feel that too.

that being said i didnt dislike this book, i would probably still recommend it to people who i knew enjoyed lyrical writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

lalu's review

challenging emotional sad

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

4.0

This was very different from what I usually read. It was beautiful, confusing, challenging, desperate, touching, and intimate. Easy to read despite the extraordinary prose. 
But I have to say I don't envy students who have to analyse and interpret the hell out of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, War, Violence, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Racism, Gun violence, Death, Abortion, Mental illness, Cancer, Car accident, and Grief

shayh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Homophobia, War, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Cancer, Bullying, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Car accident

caroisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

I almost gave up on this book 70 pages in. The writing felt too decorative for me, like a really, really long poem. Then I saw that Ocean is a poet, and it started to make sense. Something changed in the pages after that, as I got used to his cadence and by the end, craved it. It's a difficult story, triggering, somber, a dry landscape. But the beauty really is in the poetry of every description, half sentences, fragments, trains of thought. This was a long read, because of how much meaning there was to absorb in every sentence.

I'm glad I didn't give up on this. I'll keep thinking about this memoir forever.

You'll like this is you appreciate memoirs, are in a mentally good place with darker content in real-life context, Asian American stories, LGBTQIA+ perspectives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Gun violence, Cancer, Physical abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

Such a beautifully written book - poetry thought not poetry. Full of sadness and trauma but also full of hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Homophobia, Racism, War, Abortion, Cancer, and Addiction