amandasbokhylla's review
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Drug use
hoiyan's review
- 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
“You’re a mother, Ma. You’re also a monster. But so am I—which is why I can’t turn away from you. Which is why I have taken god’s loneliest creation and put you inside it.”
"Our mother tongue, then, is no mother at all—but an orphan. Our Vietnamese a time capsule, a mark of where your education ended, ashed.”
“Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you’ve been ruined.”
“Afterward, lying next to me with his face turned away, he cried skillfully in the dark. The way boys do.”
Spoiler
and losing the one who was supposed to be beside you for just a little while longer“Maybe in the next life we’ll meet each other for the first time—believing in everything but the harm we’re capable of.”
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Racial slurs
Minor: Transphobia
i do want to make a warning note of multiple explicit sexual scenes between two teenage boysnotartgarfunkel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Abortion, War, Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Gun violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Excrement, Body horror, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Gore, Blood, Cancer, Vomit, Murder, Medical content, Alcohol, Bullying, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Cursing
Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, Pedophilia, and Deportation
jelliestars's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Grief, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Violence, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Abortion, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Transphobia, Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, and Gun violence
c_serpent's review
- 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
Five stars for Ocean Vuong. For how we see one another in the light of them, those bright dead things, and call one another good.
Total score: 5/5 stars
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, War, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, Drug use, Violence, and Transphobia
raiju's review
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Abortion, Alcoholism, Death, and Colonisation
readbycarina's review
- 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
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
mmiirrpp's review
- 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
While this book did touch me deeply I would warn people, particularly survivors of abuse and POC, that this book can be painful to read at times and to check the content warnings left by other reviewers. I couldn't finish it the first time around, nor could the majority of my queer Asian friends that I recommended it to.
Graphic: Sexual content, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, and Child abuse
Moderate: War, Transphobia, Outing, Colonisation, and Sexual assault
ichthusangel's review
- 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
Graphic: Gaslighting, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Abortion, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Violence, Racism, Transphobia, and Homophobia
luckyone's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Sexual content, War, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Addiction, Cancer, Drug use, Car accident, Excrement, Medical content, War, Violence, Hate crime, and Racism
Minor: Transphobia and Cursing