Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

42 reviews

aksmith92's review against another edition

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

4.0

The setup: 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' is a unique novel, presented as a letter from a son to a mother who likely will never be able to read it due to her inability to read, especially in English. Our narrator, Little Dog, delves into his family's life - even before his birth - in Vietnam, during the infamous war there, and his own life, unearthing some traumas and revelations throughout his teenage years.

Much of the novel is about Little Dog's relationship with his mother, Rose, and her mother, Lan. There is an intricate discussion about their familial affairs and what it took the women to survive for Little Dog to be writing this letter. Then it's also a pseudo-love story about Little Dog and Trevor, a boy he works with on a tobacco farm during the summers. There is a little bit of grief, love, and hardship throughout this novel, and you can feel Ocean Vuong's poetic side coming out as he describes Little Dog's complicated life. Honestly, it's a story about nothing, yet about everything for someone like Little Dog. It intertwines addiction, violence, and a plethora of trauma into a novel that shares the story of a son and his mother.

What I loved: This book was a bit haunting AND lovely - somehow both, sometimes simultaneously (but not always). Vuong was a storyteller here. There were fantastic quotes and metaphors, and Vuong knew how to share philosophical thoughts and ideas. It was a sad story and one that encompasses survival. It takes a talented writer to make this type of art, and Vuong no doubt delivered a tremendous literary and contemporary fiction book. Honestly, at times, this felt SO real, to the point that it reminded me of a memoir (maybe that also had to do with a second person). Either way, you were submerged in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and felt all the feels.

What could have made it five stars: The common literary fiction conundrum - the intense effort to be overly profound. I felt this only initially, but Vuong seemed to try so hard. On page 4 or around there, one quote said something like, "We held nothing in our hands but our hands." And while I understood that it was likely that they were holding each other's hands, it just made me roll my eyes. 

My only other qualm was the structure. I know what Vuong was doing, and Vuong knew what Vuong was doing, as mentioned in the novel a couple of times in the letter - Little Dog knew his writing was a bit all over the place. However, it took a lot of work to immerse myself in the story because of the back-and-forth timelines, especially between paragraphs with no apparent cadence. Part II had more narrative style than the others; otherwise, linking story pieces took a lot of work. It made it hard to connect with the plot itself. 

Regardless, this book was undeniably moving, genuine, and wholehearted. The impactful pieces of the story, like the aftermath of war, an opioid crisis and addiction, and sexuality, were incredibly well done, and I think this book is an essential read. The structure makes it a bit challenging for a novel, but the storytelling is ultimately worth that brief confusion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racial slurs, War, Physical abuse, Cancer, Child death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Abortion, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Mental illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Grief, Violence, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Drug use

Moderate: Car accident and Classism

Minor: Misogyny, Transphobia, and Sexism

Rape is not discussed as a rape, but it is assumed.

readingtempeh's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Racism, Cancer, Homophobia, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, Abortion, Transphobia, and Outing

fayemomodu's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? No

5.0

Loveddddd this book so much. Beautifully wrote, almost poetic. Very deep, talks about a lot of deep issues, so there may be a trigger warning for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Transphobia, Gun violence, Addiction, War, Alcohol, Suicide, Racism, Abortion, Sexual content, and Mental illness

earthsigil's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Abortion, Drug abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Racism, War, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Transphobia

caroisreading'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? It's complicated

4.0

I almost gave up on this book 70 pages in. The writing felt too decorative for me, like a really, really long poem. Then I saw that Ocean is a poet, and it started to make sense. Something changed in the pages after that, as I got used to his cadence and by the end, craved it. It's a difficult story, triggering, somber, a dry landscape. But the beauty really is in the poetry of every description, half sentences, fragments, trains of thought. This was a long read, because of how much meaning there was to absorb in every sentence.

I'm glad I didn't give up on this. I'll keep thinking about this memoir forever.

You'll like this is you appreciate memoirs, are in a mentally good place with darker content in real-life context, Asian American stories, LGBTQIA+ perspectives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Gun violence, Cancer, Physical abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

melanieripple's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Abortion, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, War, Death, Grief, Racism, and Mental illness

Minor: Transphobia

peggymay's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Death, Mental illness, Cancer, Abortion, Xenophobia, Bullying, Drug use, War, Child abuse, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Racism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Death, Drug use, Child abuse, Homophobia, War, Domestic abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Domestic abuse, Abortion, Car accident, Bullying, Racism, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Animal death, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Grief, Racial slurs, Homophobia, War, Cancer, Excrement, Addiction, Child abuse, and Blood

amandasbokhylla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual content

Moderate: Transphobia, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Drug use

hoiyan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

“You’re a mother, Ma. You’re also a monster. But so am I—which is why I can’t turn away from you. Which is why I have taken god’s loneliest creation and put you inside it.”

okay. deep breaths everyone (talking to myself).

i don't even know where or how to begin this review/complete emotional word barf because i think this novel just changed something in me.

the whole thing is just gorgeous and poetic prose that just slams into your brain over and over again. this is definitely not an easy read—with both heavy, HEAVY content and dense narratives that may take a couple read-throughs to digest.

"Our mother tongue, then, is no mother at all—but an orphan. Our Vietnamese a time capsule, a mark of where your education ended, ashed.”

touching on themes and conflicts of diaspora, culture and how it intersects with queerness, masculinity, and what it means to grow up with all odds against you, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is, probably, a perfect depiction of the common migrant/first-gen experience. it took me a while to finish this book. it physically hurt me to continue reading after i've read one section that hit a LITTTTTLE too close to home. i've never read a book that captured experiences i thought were unique to me before. having these familiar thoughts and experiences articulated and weaved so nicely within these pages was definitely an amazing feeling. i've never felt less alone than when vuong described his complicated relationship with his mother, or how someone, namely your own mother, can both love you unconditionally yet completely despise you.

i noticed other reviews criticizing the language in the book saying that it was unnecessary to the storytelling, but honestly, i loved it. Vuong mentions repeatedly how English was his weapon—it became a tool in which was used to culturally assimilate into a world that will always see him as an outsider. and that HURT me. he's telling his story in the language that he can. it's ... a really specific experience, i think. incredibly hard to articulate into words that would make sense for anyone who has never had that experience. i think his prose was absolutely necessary in driving home that idea at the beginning of his orphaned Vietnamese. it's ironic, almost, how one's mother tongue can gradually dissolve into close to nothing. a fair sacrifice made to survive in this cruel world, no?

“Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you’ve been ruined.”

it took me a good while to adjust to the pace and formatting. Vuong jumps between timelines often, and is a bit unconventional. HOWEVER! i do like his choice of these abrupt switches. it resembles how one would reencounter memories and ghosts of the past, and it really help me immerse myself in all the narratives Vuong laid out, whether it be when he was 6, 14, 20.

a lot of internal monologues and thoughts were braided into the rich prose, which made me think "wow, this guy really is a great poet." it's done pretty effortlessly, and i noticed Vuong tends to leave section conclusions open-ended, either with a (seemingly) passing thought, or a vague statement. over time, it could be a bit frustrating to not have a clear answer, but does anyone have an answer anyway? is there even an answer to these happenings in life?

“Afterward, lying next to me with his face turned away, he cried skillfully in the dark. The way boys do.”

i really, really appreciated Vuong's complete honesty here. it helped to match the current speaker (the different ages) to the scene. i think it helped to emphasize that, yes, that is a young boy experiencing these things, and not a young boy's thought process through the mind of an adult, if you know what i mean. 

grief in three different ways was shown pretty perfectly. 1. grief with never having your mother's unconditional acceptance. 2. the grief that comes with being a queer man

and losing the one who was supposed to be beside you for just a little while longer

. 3. grief with a grandparent that raised you through stories. and god, did all of them hurt deeply.

this novel also got me thinking just how differently a mother-son and mother-daughter relationship can be. i think i'm feeling an additional grief after that realization.

“Maybe in the next life we’ll meet each other for the first time—believing in everything but the harm we’re capable of.”

above is probably my favourite quote (of many great ones) in the entire novel. this was a difficult, but amazing read. this is a story of "what could've been," of "what if," and makes you think what little is left of that little boy's naivety and hope for a world free of hate, violence, and bloodshed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Racial slurs

Minor: Transphobia

i do want to make a warning note of multiple explicit sexual scenes between two teenage boys

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