Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

348 reviews

pikkumarja's review against another edition

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

4.0

The language and storytelling is so beautiful, painful and touching it feels like a poem. The book is definitely challenging and it takes time and effort to read if you want to understand it fully. 

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

4.0


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etherealisnt's review against another edition

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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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hsitbeenworthit's review against another edition

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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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sarasreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Stunning and unflinching. I know this almost connected stream of consciousness writing might not appeal to everyone, but wow did it work for me. The way each short chapter bobs and weaves several ideas, or even completely disparate things, together was masterful. And the quality of the writing, the turns of phrase, it was all incredible. I'm not going to forget unicorns stamping in a graveyard for a long time. 

I didn't know much of what this was about before picking it up, only that it was beautifully written, but reader beware. Read the trigger warnings as there are many and some passages were hard to read.

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carolinacortez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

"what I left behind becomes exactly what I'm running toward -- like I'm part of a family." 

Tengo que ser honesta, es un libro complicado de leer, no es una lectura que se lea en una sentada (aunque es cortito), es prácticamente poesía en forma de novela, entonces mi recomendación sería que se lea despacito, disfrutando cada palabra de Ocean. 

"The wound is also the place where the skin reencounters itself, asking of each end, where have you been? 
Where have we been, Ma?" 

Cada párrafo, cada capítulo, cada oración, son hermosos, yo no podía dejar de decir 'no puede ser' de lo bello que está escrito y se ve el amor que hay detrás de cada palabra, que pensó la mejor manera de mostrar una parte de la vida de mucha gente. 

"Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. Buy if you were god, you know it's a flood."

En cuanto a las relaciones (tanto con su mamá, abuela, como con Trevor) están súper marcadas las diferencias, como la personalidad de little dog se moldaba según con quién estaba, según lo que la otra persona necesitará de el (muy mirrorball de su parte) 

"You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing" 

En resumen es una novela preciosísima, solo hay que tener en cuenta que requiere su tiempo para digerirla bien. 

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archiveofrasa's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

I adored this. I love love love the writing in this; everyone who said his writing is gorgeous is absolutely right. some of the way he phrases things is like... man what the fuck. the reason I consider this inspiring is just because of the way he words things, it gets me writing again. I love any book that does that.

I liked the route it took with the sexuality storyline. I think with these books of this type I expect a chain of boys the main character has been with but it's just one guy that has had a major impact on Little Dog and I appreciate that a lot. and of course, his relationship with his mother, oh God. I don't have anything to say, I just really love this. 

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lillieb130's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0


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peggymay's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0


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yummosocks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-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? Yes

3.75


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