Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

326 reviews

bluesforsmoke's review against another edition

Nice prose and really honest portrait of familial relationships, but too sad for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: War

The soliders eating the monkey's brain while it is still alive and the emotional trauma

mousmoulo's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i've been long aware of the fact that i'm a deeply prosaic person, so yes the writing was insane but that's not enough for me to enjoy a book, so overall it wasn't very memorable to me. it does deal with some very heavy and important topics and i appreciate the fact that i had the chance to read about some things in here, but overall i wouldn't say it changed me, or had the big impact i expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, War, Xenophobia, and Drug abuse

livs_getting_bookish's review against another edition

The language was a bit too flowery, which usually I really appreciate when an author can paint a vivid with words. But this was a little too over the top for my liking.
There were also multiple times throughout the book where it went graphically described an animals death or suffering, which each time the author did this it was relevant to the plot but I just can't handle in depth descriptions of animal suffering/abuse/death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Animal death

sarasreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Stunning and unflinching. I know this almost connected stream of consciousness writing might not appeal to everyone, but wow did it work for me. The way each short chapter bobs and weaves several ideas, or even completely disparate things, together was masterful. And the quality of the writing, the turns of phrase, it was all incredible. I'm not going to forget unicorns stamping in a graveyard for a long time. 

I didn't know much of what this was about before picking it up, only that it was beautifully written, but reader beware. Read the trigger warnings as there are many and some passages were hard to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Cancer, War, and Sexual violence

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

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

annatan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Homophobia, Sexual content, Drug abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Domestic abuse

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

ada_elisabeth's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

Well, I read this hoping to cry, and I got what I was looking for, so that's good.
 

What I Loved: 
- Let me begin by saying that this may possibly be the most beautifully-written book I've read in my entire life. It was so, so lyrical, which makes sense because Vuong is a poet, but dang. It's perfect.
- The story was just... transcended? Transcended what exactly, I don't know. Maybe reality. It was a heartbreaking mixture of memories and flashbacks, examinations of the speaker, Little Dog's, life, or that of his grandmother, stories of college and high school and kindergarten, notes on love and death and joy and grief. It felt, at times, surreal. I loved it. 
- I teared up about a million times while reading this. (Well, it was really only three, but still. Many times.) This story is, at its core, deeply sad. The comparisons between people and animals, love and hate, life and death really make this book feel real. The way that Vuong connects the deaths of cows, butterflies, monkeys, and buffalo to the story line so seamlessly is quite impressive, and also incredibly moving.
- The ending really hit me. Not just the last few sentences, which is usually what gets me crying, but the entire last fifty or so pages,

when Lan dies, Paul's reaction to it(honestly heartbreaking),

and the very last page all got me to tear up a little. (Although I must be very dehydrated or something, because the tears just never fell, but I had all the other symptoms of crying.)
- Mother and monster. The words seem to juxtapose each other, antonyms, polar opposites. But 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' shows that, in some cases, they are one and the same.

What I Didn't Love: 
- The plot was sometimes a little bit hard to follow due to how surreal, non-linear, layered it was, but reading it was an entire experience, so that's just a minor complaint. 
- Sometimes the writing was a little too flowery, which made it feel slow in some bits, but it was otherwise a very fast-paced book. Again, poets don't usually write such long and continuous pieces, so I really applaud this for being ninety percent perfect. 

Final Thoughts: 
- This book reminded me of two others I've read this summer: 'Diary of a Film' and 'My Government Means to Kill Me,' the former for the similar writing style and the latter for the discussion of race, culture, classism, and masculinity. 
- The entire thing was so insanely quotable, but I'll leave you with my favorite: 
"There is so much I wanted to tell you, Ma. I was once foolish enough to believe that knowledge would clarify, but sometimes things are so gauzed behind layers of syntax and semantics, behind days and hours, names forgotten, salvaged, and shed, that simply knowing the wound exists does nothing to reveal it." [Page 62] 

4.75/5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Homophobia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Sexual harassment

phou's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and War