Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

122 reviews

notartgarfunkel's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

mmwiseheart's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

I had mixed feelings about this one. I struggle to read books that are stream of consciousness or jump back and forth through time, so I had to take it slowly. There was a lot of sadness on this book, but it also had some hope. I did find a lot that really resonates with me. It covers a variety of topics, physical abuse, drug addiction, family dynamics, Vietnamese culture, trauma, grief, just to name some of them. Because if this, I think anyone can find something in it that they can identify with and take some meaning from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, War, Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Child abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Alcoholism, Car accident, Excrement, Hate crime, Confinement, and Death of parent

purplehulk713's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.5

That was remarkable. Effortlessly elegant and profound, Ocean Vuong is an author’s poet. Little Dog redeems himself in his reflection, it seems, recalling the beauty of Lan, Rose, and Trevor, and how that both outweighed and encompassed their horrors and wars. And it does him too. Running towards the cliff is a choice for him because he lets himself fly instead of falling off the edge. Vuong’s voice along this journey was one of the most evocative and cathartic I have ever encountered. I adored his poetic use of etymology and data to express the trauma and truth of his characters. His critique of the United States is completely on point. Vuong truly understands how language informs us just as much as we inform it. This is evident in the Hoa Nguyen quote that ends the novel:

The past tense of sing is not singed.

This book is so raw and penetrating—I recommend listening to it and reading it at the same time. But I think the real question is—will you embrace your brief beauty?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Excrement, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Addiction, Blood, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, War, and Xenophobia

iirreeaadd's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

Just a stunning and beautiful book. Each line is poetry in motion. It's sad and moving but in a way that is just honest, not draining. It's certainly intense at points. It's prose is deliciously thick in a chocolate cake sort of way where you want to reread what you just read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Addiction, Cancer, and Homophobia

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

c_serpent's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

This book has explicit sex scenes, graphic depictions of animal cruelty, and a lot of excrement. I did not enjoy every minute of it. But it is a novel that is a poem that is a song, and it is expertly, expertly crafted.

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, War, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug use, Violence, and Transphobia

roouija's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, War, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Homophobia

floki56's review

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

Modern classic.

I was expecting a very specific book when I picked this up but Ocean really delivered in a different way. Internal conflicts and interpersonal dynamics are a main focus, and he weaves so many areas of little dog’s life into a satisfying synthesis. He also loves metaphor, goes on for pages and pages explaining new revelations in little dog, sometimes using extremely explicit descriptions (

Spoiler

quite a lot about feces and it’s relation to the soul and shame, multiple sex scenes

) Extraordinarily written book. Take your time through it; Vuong’s prose unsurprisingly reads a bit like poetry (in the best way possible).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Sexual content, War, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Hate crime, Death, Addiction, Blood, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Gore, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Racism, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Cancer

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

This book is DENSE. I had to really turn my brain on to read it, which was not a bad thing, but it did make me take much longer to read it than I expected. Like in his poetry, Vuong's descriptions are vibrant and original. My favorite aspect of his writing is I can see exactly what he is describing, even though his manner of description is unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Racism, War, Abortion, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Drug use, Excrement, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Cancer, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Minor: Gun violence, Cursing, Vomit, and Abandonment

Uses of slurs against LGBTQ+ folks

luciovalencia's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Addiction, Excrement, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, War, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia