Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

38 reviews

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

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

Minor: Bullying, Abortion, Excrement, and Vomit

oliviantoinette's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

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

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

anneliemn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Animal death, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse and War

Minor: War

grace_farrimond's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

beautiful writing that occasionally boggled my smooth pea brain but I loved this book so much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Excrement, Sexual content, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, and Sexual assault

novella42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

I can still hear Vuong's gentle, relentless voice when I read quotes or pages from the hardcopy I finally picked up. Sometimes I read a little to remind the writer part of my brain how lyrical words work, and what kind of writer I want to be.

His author-read audiobook performance of this powerful book was nothing short of magnificent. 

A queer Vietnamese American man writes a letter to his mother, a survivor of the Vietnam War, who cannot read. His love for her, and hers for him, is ferocious and beautiful beyond words. Vuong is a poet, but strangely, I find his novel more compelling than his poetry. Tons of content warnings, to the degree I don't know when I will ever feel mentally resilient enough in my own C-PTSD to re-read it in its entirety, but if you're in the mood for a good cry, I can't think of anything more cathartic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Chronic illness, Blood, Homophobia, Car accident, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Self harm, Addiction, Sexual content, Animal death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Cancer, Abortion, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Excrement, Cursing, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Gore, Pregnancy, Dementia, Suicide, Sexual assault, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Child death, Rape, Abandonment, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Body horror, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Torture, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Adult/minor relationship, War, Confinement, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

thesecretsapphic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Grief, Child abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer and Alcoholism

aprilinao's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? No

5.0

This book is so beautifully written, and as a queer person raised in a Viet immigrant family, it was a very emotional read. I would love to read it again and again. I hosted a book club through my campus library on this book, and it was difficult to narrow down discussion questions: A high number of lines are filled with meaning, and the book is told in unconventional manners. We could have made the meeting so much longer and would have loved every second of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, War, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Death, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Grief, and Hate crime

lucille_c's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-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: Pregnancy, Addiction, Blood, Gore, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, War, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Terminal illness, Car accident, Child abuse, Abortion, Bullying, Cancer, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ell_'s review against another edition

slow-paced

Not a fan. Not for me at all. To try hard - it’s difficult to read and understand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Child abuse