Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

54 reviews

maxthebeetlesheep's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A stunning book that i knew i would rate 5 stars from the very first chapter. absolutely captivating and such an important read. if i could only choose one book to read this year, it would be this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Grief, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Blood, Cancer, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

gvstyris's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.75

I had thought sex was to breach new ground, despite terror, that as long as the world did not see us, its rules did not apply. But I was wrong.
The rules, they were already inside us. 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is an epistolary novel defined by its premise: the letter's intended recipient -- the main character's mother -- is illiterate, and will thus never read it. This permits a unique vulnerability, which, in addition to Vuong's lyrical prose and sensitivity towards his characters, is perhaps the greatest strength of this narrative.

That being said, I understand why this novel won't be for everyone. Our protagonist, Little Dog, tells his life story through a series of non-linear digressions that echo his mind's messy categorisation of 20+ years of memories. Little Dog himself notes that "I'm not telling you a story so much as a shipwreck--the pieces floating, finally legible." It's a structure quite uncommon in Western literature, utilising the Japanese narrative technique of kishōtenketsu to reject a clear plot in favor of replicating reality. Vuong's writing asked me to reconsider what it means to write a "novel," and I'm completely in awe of his creative process. I'm similarly excited to check out more of his poetry.

On an emotional level, I found Little Dog's story of coming-of-age (or as Vuong puts it, "coming-of-art") as a queer Vietnamese-American boy to be incredibly eye-opening. His empathy towards his grandmother/mother's struggles with PTSD really stuck with me, as well as his consideration of his place in wider American culture. In truth, I initially struggled to read about Little Dog's relationship with queerness because of its emphasis both on physicality/sex and trauma. I've since finished the novel, however, with an increased understanding of why we need to represent a range of queer experiences -- and do so with sensitivity.

What a read. I'll leave you with another line of Vuong's beautiful prose:

All this time I told myself we were born from war--but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty.
Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence--but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Addiction

Moderate: War, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Child abuse and Medical content

zeldazonks's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author which was genuinely an incredible way to take in the book. However it did mean that it felt like a 7 hour poetry reading, so I had to pace myself and probably listen in more instalments than if I'd physically read it. Not that that detracted from the book in anyway, but it's worth bearing in mind. Overall incredibly beautiful writing and a devastating story, very meditative and hops back and forth through time so it feels almost dream like or like memory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Child abuse, Medical content, Addiction, Pregnancy, War, Sexual violence, Excrement, Cancer, Abortion, Homophobia, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

marena02's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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: Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Deportation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Addiction, Medical content, Physical abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and War

siebensommer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

what is a country but a life sentence?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Drug use, Homophobia, Addiction, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: War, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Medical content

grcompain's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

Vuong’s story is as deep and captivating as his writing style. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story that keeps you down allowing you to come up for only brief and humorous pockets of air. This story was real and vivid. The writing was very poetic and the imagery provided, drops the reader right into the scene in the best and worst ways. I personally disliked the amount of the gruesome and gory details (animal abuse and body horror) which of course added emotional value but also distracted from the rest of the page. I found my mind stuck on horrible images long after turning the page. This book is beautiful and fearlessly describes the gorgeous, and the terrible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Abortion, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Racism

carolinacortez's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Racial slurs, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Drug use

Minor: Abortion and Death

yummosocks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Animal death, Genocide, Grief, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, War, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Cancer, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Bullying

Minor: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Racial slurs

thestarsaresad's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This book was good, but honestly I feel like I'm just too dumb to truly comprehend and appreciate it. I'm sure someone smarter than me could read it and come up with a bunch of important meanings, but for me, I just read it as a letter from a son to a mother. It's not that this book was boring -- it's not, I loved reading about his experiences -- but the reflection and different metaphors in the book honestly flew over my head. I've read a lot of fantasy books recently, so this book was a much needed breath of fresh air, of reality, of the human experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Animal death, Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Medical content, and War

mirandyli's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautifully written and will probably make you cry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis