Reviews tagging 'Blood'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

124 reviews

hannibanani29's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Racism, Grief, Cancer, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Drug abuse

Minor: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Alcohol, Classism, and Cursing

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

hayleydunn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, War, Blood, Homophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

nialiversuch's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, War, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Addiction, Violence, Death, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Cancer

Minor: Pregnancy

bites_of_books's review

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

3.5

There is no question that Ocean Vuong can write. There were passages that struck deep in my core and that I can't shake. 

Little Dog is a young man who is writing a letter to his mother, telling her about many aspects of his life that he'd never told her before. We learn about his family's story in Vietnam as well as what happened as he grew up in the US. This is all told in snippets that jump back and forth between memories, almost like a structured and poetic stream of consciousness. While it was beautiful it was also violent and raw and simply overwhelming at times. 

I so wish that the structure of the novel had been a bit more linear, adding that to the poetic writing made it quite difficult to fully appreciate everything that was going on in the novel. If anything, I think this is one novel that I'll get a lot more out of upon re-reading it. 

I'd recommend it but definitely check the trigger warnings before reading, be patient, take your time, and keep an open mind for a novel that is blurring the lines between novel and poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and War

strawberrysheepie's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

So so so beautiful!!! Includes heavy topics so read with caution. Vuong’s writing is just so gorgeous and I can’t wait to read some more. This is definitely a book I’ll reread, and if you like poetry you’ll like this. One of my fave lines: ‘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: War, Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Death, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

handful_of_frogs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Excrement, Death of parent, Addiction, Sexual content, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, and Racism

oracle_of_delphi's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

the best thing ive read this year, truly an epic portrayal of maternal relationships, queerness, addiction, and creative culture in the modern age. This is less a novel and more an ocean. Please read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Addiction

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Abortion and Blood

yolie's review

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

4.25

This book needs you to take your time. Although the novel appears slim it is quite dense in terms of the content and Vuong’s prose. Some chapters read more like short stories and long form poetry than a linear account. The book has moments of absolute hopelessness, you’re shattered by Little Dog’s accounts of growing up an Asian immigrant in America, gay and poor. His one-sided and ill-fated relationship with Trevor makes me cautious (and sad) to say he is Little Dog's 'first love'. So much of their relationship is marred by Trevor's homophobia and recklessness. 

I wish less time was spent on that relationship and more weight was given to the other significant relationships in his life and the milestones he achieves in his adulthood. 

But there’s beauty in it too - a nod to the book’s title. Vuong/ Little Dog is able to hold so much compassion for people, he chooses to see them in their gorgeousness - irrespective of the brevity of that moment.  Long after the novel is over you’ll keep coming back to certain phrases, marvelling at how stunning and lyrical Vuong’s writing is.

One of my favourite passages from the book reads:
“Because the sunset, like survival, exists only on the verge of its own disappearing. To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Vomit, Abortion, Cursing, and Violence

Minor: Biphobia, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

sydapel's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-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? No

4.75

There's a blurb on the back of this book that calls it "raw" and that's really all I've got to say about this story, these people, this writing. Its a book that requires revisiting, despite the heartache and suffering that almost leaks through the page, and it reminded me of the strength in remembering, of drawing beauty out of suffering, and oddly of the complex community of Hartford. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Animal death, Grief, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Blood, and Colonisation