Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

180 reviews

tetedump's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Car accident, Abortion, and War

mmwiseheart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

I had mixed feelings about this one. I struggle to read books that are stream of consciousness or jump back and forth through time, so I had to take it slowly. There was a lot of sadness on this book, but it also had some hope. I did find a lot that really resonates with me. It covers a variety of topics, physical abuse, drug addiction, family dynamics, Vietnamese culture, trauma, grief, just to name some of them. Because if this, I think anyone can find something in it that they can identify with and take some meaning from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, War, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Hate crime, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

heuteschongekurtet's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

Idunno I just couldn’t get into it. I was completely turned off at the abortion scene.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Abortion

miyothecat's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Racism

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

I read this book a few months ago, so it isn’t super fresh in my mind, but my memory of it entails gorgeous poetic language, brilliantly detailed storytelling, and incredible nonfictional world-building.
Note: I vaguely pictured Edvin Ryding as Trevor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

This is the most well written book I have ever read. It is powerful and beautiful and gut wrenching. I am in love with Ocean Vuong’s master ability to write and articulate what it means to be human and to suffer and feel pain and loss. This is masterful! My favorite book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and War

roouija's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

floki56's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

Modern classic.

I was expecting a very specific book when I picked this up but Ocean really delivered in a different way. Internal conflicts and interpersonal dynamics are a main focus, and he weaves so many areas of little dog’s life into a satisfying synthesis. He also loves metaphor, goes on for pages and pages explaining new revelations in little dog, sometimes using extremely explicit descriptions (

quite a lot about feces and it’s relation to the soul and shame, multiple sex scenes

) Extraordinarily written book. Take your time through it; Vuong’s prose unsurprisingly reads a bit like poetry (in the best way possible).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Excrement, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book is DENSE. I had to really turn my brain on to read it, which was not a bad thing, but it did make me take much longer to read it than I expected. Like in his poetry, Vuong's descriptions are vibrant and original. My favorite aspect of his writing is I can see exactly what he is describing, even though his manner of description is unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Vomit, and Abandonment

Uses of slurs against LGBTQ+ folks