Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

110 reviews

nerd_inthe_wild's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Xenophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, War

gabbyolsen's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Hauntingly beautiful writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, War

tellatrix's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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𝐎𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬

𝙾𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚅𝚞𝚘𝚗𝚐

Disclaimer: I’m unable to write reviews without including spoilers, so please read this expecting some.

This is a book I know I’ll need to reread at least two more times to fully grasp all the layers of meaning and messages the author is trying to convey. While I understood the main plot, the metaphors, poetry, and deeper themes often felt elusive. The connections between scenes and ideas required careful attention, and sometimes I got lost in the beautiful, yet intricate, web of words.

Maybe after reading more books, learning new words, or gaining more life experience, I’ll be able to fully understand what Ocean Vuong was trying to say. Right now, I can’t. If someone asked me what this book was about, I don’t think I could give a clear, straightforward answer.

If I said this book was about a Vietnamese family carrying the violence and trauma of war within them—something that shaped them, tormented them, and yet also made them beautiful—would that make sense? Probably not, and even if it did, it wouldn’t come close to capturing the complexity of the story.

This is a book you have to experience for yourself. Even then, you might not find all the answers on your first read—just like me. But I know I’ll revisit it. Each time, I hope to uncover new layers, new words to explain what this book means.

For me, though, this book wasn’t as sad as some might say. I found it more hopeful. Others may disagree, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of hope running through it. Hope for what? I’m not sure. Maybe it wasn’t hope tied to action or outcomes—just hope as a feeling, a quiet presence.

I’ll end this review with a quote that stayed with me the most from my reading: 

 “I miss you more than I remember you.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, War

perth_is's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

kelisabeth's review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

chaosbumblebee's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Such a beautiful book it makes me want to go back and lower my rating of everything else so that this is the only 5 star read I have this year--or ever. Heartbreaking, poignant, perfect and imperfect, Vuong puts words to feelings I didn't know words could be put to. I need to call my mom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

branson03's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

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A lovely and eloquent read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was good i just wasnt an enamoured by it as i thought id be, the first half might have been a lower rating tbh but it pulled itself up, the writing was really nice but sometimes it felt like it was trying to hard to be nice

‘only the future revisits the past.’

‘"Everything good is somewhere else”’

‘To destroy a people, then, is to set them back in time.’

‘You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood.’

‘I remember it all because how can you forget anything about the day you first found yourself beautiful?’

‘We were exchanging truths, I realized, which is to say, we were cutting one another.’

‘Let me tie my shadow to your feet and call it friendship’

‘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: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, War

kimisaboss123's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, War

Minor: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ewillreadit's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, War