Reviews tagging 'Murder'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

12 reviews

sierrajhansen'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? Yes

2.5

i don't think i chose to read this book at a time where i would be more receptive to it (i have enough stress in my life without reading about super dark topics), but i still generally don't click with books where i'm at a low-to-medium level of confusion the entire time. i can tell the writing is beautiful, but it feels really inaccessible (which makes sense because ocean vuong's poetry generally feels the same way to me). 

and why did we keep breaking the fourth wall to talk about tiger woods???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, Animal cruelty, War, Death, and Animal death

sara_b_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Murder, Domestic abuse, and War

poppyedition's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

notartgarfunkel's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abortion, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Bullying, Cancer, Excrement, Vomit, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fatphobia, Deportation, Pedophilia, and Transphobia

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

killeenm's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t. The first part was the best in my opinion, and I did appreciate the book’s exploration of war, immigration, parents, and queerness. Overall, I didn’t understand the sometimes overly metaphoric tangents, even though I wanted to understand what they were getting at, I didn’t. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the book and seemed like an author’s attempt to work in certain points without actually having to tie it into the story. As the book went on, graphic descriptions turned gruesome and torturous to read. I’m not one to shy away from reality or portrayals of it, but it was too much for me at times, and most of the time it didn’t seem to add to the point of the book. It was obviously written by a talented poet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Bullying, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Child abuse, War, Murder, Abortion, Violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, Excrement, Vomit, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Addiction

reemoony's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

i used to be so pretentious when it came to giving books five stars. i thought they had to check this huge list of boxes, but they dont. if you enjoy a book, give it five stars. with that being said, i dont know if i enjoyed this book. it doesnt feel like a book you’re supposed to like, but you love it anyway. its gut-wrenching and hurtful and powerful and loving. it’s everything in the universe at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, Rape, Medical content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

sarahrosea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, War, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Colonisation, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Abortion, Blood, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Terminal illness

Minor: Transphobia and Murder

julia_rose's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Definitely the most beautiful prose I’ve ever witnessed in my life, I underlined so many incredible sentences. At one point he describes his language like a shipwreck very fragmented with pieces coming to the shore out of order and that’s a good description of how the plot unfolds. Occasionally hard to follow but not impossible and amazing portrayal of flawed but endearing characters. So sad and emotional with tiny sparks of hope. There was a scene of animal cruelty early on in the book which really turned me off for a while but the whole book is impressively unflinching. Will definitely be reading all Ocean’s future books. It’s just gorgeous, excuse the pun!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, War, Sexual content, Addiction, Sexual violence, Murder, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Infidelity, War, Vomit, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma