ixris's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Devastating. As in I felt like I was destroyed several times while reading this. 

Buckle in for trauma. 

Fantastic and beautiful and painful and horrible all at once. 

I will never rec this book to anyone bc wow it's not for the faint of heart. But it was for me and I look forward to rereading in the future. 

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karitoy's review against another edition

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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

4.75


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hogwallet's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0


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astridrv's review against another edition

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I am so curious about the author's poetry now. This was a mesmerizing, gorgeous book, born from the five senses, a detailed attention to the world, an ear to the heart and beyond. I did feel it had the pitfalls of its daring: a lack of structure despite a love for patterns, parts that didn't fly despite most of the prose soaring, an occasional cliché despite such fresh and vivid images, too many rhetorical questions and aphorisms when everything is already there. But I loved it.

"And like a word, I hold no weight in this world yet still carry my own life."

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hannahnadeshda's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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? No

5.0


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lulaabees's review against another edition

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

5.0

presented as a letter to the author's mother, "on earth we're briefly gorgeous" is a deep dive into his experience as a vietnamese american gay man. i will be lucky to read another book like this in my lifetime. ocean vuong's masterful, raw prose does not let up, from the very first line and until the very last. this book reads like one long poem (i mean it as a compliment), one long confession, one long love letter. it is intense, incisive, and gorgeous in the painful way. it stays with you.

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kelisabeth's review against another edition

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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

4.25


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kaiabellamy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Beautiful, sad, hopeful - a love letter to a mother from a son struggling to love himself.

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chaosbumblebee's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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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n7n0's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

so berührend. irgendwie hat ocean vuong auf diesen paar seiten einmal über alles geschrieben, inklusive dem schreiben selbst. ich wusste nicht immer worauf genau eine passage hinauswill, umso erfrischender, dass er selbst manchmal schreibt „i don‘t know what i mean by that“ als finden wir gemeinsam heraus was da liegt und entdeckt werden mag. heavy heavy heavy und gleichzeitig so leicht und angenehm, nie pathetisch. hab noch nie ein so poetisches buch gelesen. 

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