Reviews tagging War

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

430 reviews

eib_21's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Violence, War, Death of parent, Medical content, and Drug abuse

killeenm's review

dark reflective sad 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

2.0

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t. The first part was the best in my opinion, and I did appreciate the book’s exploration of war, immigration, parents, and queerness. Overall, I didn’t understand the sometimes overly metaphoric tangents, even though I wanted to understand what they were getting at, I didn’t. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the book and seemed like an author’s attempt to work in certain points without actually having to tie it into the story. As the book went on, graphic descriptions turned gruesome and torturous to read. I’m not one to shy away from reality or portrayals of it, but it was too much for me at times, and most of the time it didn’t seem to add to the point of the book. It was obviously written by a talented poet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Bullying, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Injury/injury detail, Drug use, Child abuse, War, Murder, Abortion, Violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, Excrement, Vomit, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Addiction

chiaracerniglia's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, War, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Homophobia, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Death, Rape, Miscarriage, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Racism

ko_rax's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: War and Racism

readbycarina's review

challenging dark reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Death, Addiction, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Transphobia, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Abortion and Abandonment

itsruthalicia's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.5

Written in very flowery language, parts of this book felt like reading poetry. It explores themes of the migrant experience and trauma felt by those who have lived through and fled the was in Vietnam. There is also an interesting exploration on sexuality, with two lovable but very different characters. The novel was presented as a letter that the protagonist had written to his illiterate mum, where he focuses on key memories in his life with frequent flashbacks and jumps to other moments. Due to these jumps in chronology, it was at times a little difficult to decipher where abouts he was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Terminal illness, and War

chaoticnostalgia's review

challenging 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Racism, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Animal death, and Excrement

Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Car accident, Toxic friendship, War, and Xenophobia

reemoony's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i used to be so pretentious when it came to giving books five stars. i thought they had to check this huge list of boxes, but they dont. if you enjoy a book, give it five stars. with that being said, i dont know if i enjoyed this book. it doesnt feel like a book you’re supposed to like, but you love it anyway. its gut-wrenching and hurtful and powerful and loving. it’s everything in the universe at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and War

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, Rape, Medical content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

line's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, Racism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, War, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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

Ocean Vuong uses the English language in a more lyrical way that pretty much any other writer I can think of. His prose in this book is just as gorgeous as his poetry that I've read, and the way he connects concepts and images is breathtaking and heartbreaking by turns. 

The use of the second person was striking and affecting. The novel is written as a letter from Little Dog to his mother, Rose, but the overall effect is basically a dual narrator situation. It works beautifully. 

The content is difficult. I knew it would be. It's very much a mommy issues book, which is what I expected from Vuong based on his poetry collections. 

It would be wrong to say that I enjoyed this. I didn't. I appreciate Vuong's craft. I was deeply moved by many aspects of the story. I was triggered and brought to tears. I thought a lot about family and identity. But it's not an enjoyable book. It's deeply harrowing.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is also autobiographical enough that I would feel weird about giving it a star rating, so I'm simply not going to at this time. 

NOTE: This book does contain sexual scenes between teenagers. These scenes are not written for the titillation of readers and are instead in service to the characters' development, but I still think it's wise to warn readers of this going in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Xenophobia, Addiction, Death of parent, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, War, Racism, Death, Grief, and Cancer

I'm sure there are a lot of other content warnings that I'm missing, so please proceed with caution and care.