Reviews tagging 'Grief'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

367 reviews

alexandra296's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Written in first person with a vaguely epistolary framing but it’s not a distinct letter structure, rather a series of vignettes. The writing is simply gorgeous, very evocative.

There’s very little plot, largely a reflection on self and family, relationships, trauma etc. The lack of a strong plot through-line didn’t affect my enjoyment, especially because the writing is such expertly crafted poetry.
 
We follow Little Dog and his mother and grandmother who are immigrants to the US, which were compelling characters and also explore his relationship with Trevor. The characters are all complicated people and the dynamics between them and the narrator were definitely interesting.

Gorgeous imagery and structure, great use of motifs & juxtaposing 2 ideas that seem unrelated but are making a statement. The way people in Little Dog’s life are portrayed is at once tender & with deep pain. The language is beautiful though, so captivating. A very sad, melancholy type story but it’s so beautiful. Very reflective but brutal in parts. Definitely worth reading though, as long as you’re not looking for a distinct plot.

Only negative is I feel the tone got kinda almost TOO sad towards the third part and it felt a little tonally separate from the rest of the work to me in some areas. I guess with any body of work some parts work better than others though.


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kimisaboss123's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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


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zorazadiezahrah's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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

3.0

lots of really good poetry, but struggling to find the overall message

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ewillreadit's review against another edition

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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

4.0


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mdavis26's review against another edition

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4.5


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ienbdri's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

4.5


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a1exander's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.75


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carmenlavillaa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

so super applicable to the immigrant experience and being othered and having yourself other yourself; just the style made the book for me hard to follow at points but it was structured like a faulkner book and it makes sense!  

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dfram's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.75


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maxthebeetlesheep's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A stunning book that i knew i would rate 5 stars from the very first chapter. absolutely captivating and such an important read. if i could only choose one book to read this year, it would be this one.

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