Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

602 reviews

aein's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

This is a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. Knowing full well that she may not be able to read it, he spills everything on paper in English - the generational trauma, hardships of being interracial, and sexuality among a few. An acceptance that beauty is something we can be, no matter the briefness of it.

Content Warnings

ewillreadit's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

mdavis26's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.5

Content Warnings

poindextrix's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective

3.5

Apparently I read this in 2019, but that was a lifetime ago. Hard to imagine I’d forget something with such distinctly poetic language.

Content Warnings

tvgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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

4.75

Content Warnings

t0rixoxo's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

this book is so beautifully written. ocean vuong's writing style is so poetic and detailed that i truly felt invested in these characters.

on earth we're briefly gorgeous is about a gay, vietnamese-american and the letters he writes to his mother. these "letters" describe different parts of his life with her and other people in his life, such as his grandmother, lan, and his lover, trevor. through these letters we get a beautiful look on how the vietnam war affected his family.

definitely a 5 star book, ocean vuong's words touch a deep part inside of me.

Content Warnings

pezinho's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The way that the family dynamic was written was so beautiful. Even regarding the negative aspects of it, it was done in a way that felt so real and relatable. Many aspects of the relationship between mother and son and mother and daughter were written in ways that even if I didn't necessarily relate to it I still felt like I could understand what they felt and their motivations.

The relationship between Trevor and the main character started interesting but the longer it progressed it became very clear that they weren't a good match for each other and that it was an unbalanced relationship, so having it be such a recurring point of the book was not to my liking.

Both his relationship with his mom and his relationship with Trevor was problematic at points, however, you can see that there was love when it came to his mom and you were able to understand where she was coming from, whereas, in Trevor's case, I don't think the way he treated Little Dog can be justified by anything (other than drug abuse but alas). I guess that's why I'm more critical and didn't necessarily like reading about Trevor.

There are some books I read that fall into the "literary fiction" genre that are SO literally that I find myself struggling to make sense of some of the things written. I'm sure they have a deep meaning, I just couldn't figure out what they were. Especially around the later half of the book, at times each paragraph felt like it was talking about something else, and the writing was so poetic. The poetry was beautiful but hard to follow.

Content Warnings