Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

wa wa wa wa waaaaaa. I love poets! I LOVE POETS!!!!! I AM CRYING OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me start by saying: when some people criticize the book as “too lyrical,” I understand and in some sense even agree. There are definitely lines in there that feel like they were inserted just because they sound poetic (though Vuong perhaps mocks this himself at one point, saying “that meant nothing but you have it now”), but that is very few lines in an almost frustratingly tightly-woven work. In some sense, those lines were a relief to me. I could brush something aside.

I don’t seek to rate books by perfection; that’s silly. Five stars, to me, is a work that made me consider the world in new ways, feel big feelings, and that I would– WILL– eagerly return to again and again. Check, check, check. Five-star book. The only book I own that is more dog-eared or underlined than this is the book that I used while writing my undergrad capstone.

To avoid this being too long, let me rest on what truly impressed me about the novel, and what edges it into prose poem territory in my mind: the very basic structure of the story reflects its overwhelmingly myriad and complex themes. I don’t just mean the way the switch between tenses relates to the conflict of switching between languages with different relationships to time, or how the invocation of parataxis as a poetic form also renders the characters as different images somehow modifying one another. I mean the little things, too. Theme: writing as a form of liberation that, yet, was given to the narrator by the oppressive culture. Expression: a repeated callback to beginning sentences with “and” or “because” (a thing he was taught never to do) in moments of resistance or of joy. Theme: navigating multiple languages of care, some of which are at odds with each other, often all at once. Expression: The abandonment of the epistolary form into something more obviously poetic when the narrator begins to speak of a personal trauma which is not familial, which his mother does not necessarily share.

I need to stop before I get too excited again. Yeah dude. Good book!

Content Warnings

revolverreads's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

There is very rarely a book picked by our Russian Roulette wheel that gets its claws into us from the first page and has us tearing up by the second. Part prose, part poetry, part cry-your-eyes-out, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read, and it totally shattered us.

You begin by wondering what it is that Little Dog wants to tell his mother in this letter. Is it to let her know that despite the abuse and tumultuous childhood, he understands her? That he understands his mother is human and has lived a life full of horrors he could never imagine? Is that understanding now more painful, knowing that he has and will continue to live in a world where different horrors await him? It's a letter filled with pain, a generational hurt that has passed its way down from grandmother to mother to son, but it's also brimming with love. Amidst the pages of hurt, there is healing. For every negative memory and experience endured, there is hope and love. Despite the deep-rooted trauma, Little Dog, his mother, and Lan do what they can to shield each other in whatever ways they know.

Like many of the queer stories we have read on the Podcast so far, this narrative takes you on flashes through the timeline of their life so far. From childhood, to adolescence, to the present, Ocean Vuong manages to bring to life a full set of characters and their lifetimes, not a story that seems out of place or redundant. There is a fine line to toe when telling a traumatic story in a limited page count, but this book managed to pack a punch with each page. Complicated topics of abuse, trauma of war, self identity, and mental health are not mentioned flippantly, in fact just a line on a page manages to carry its underlying message across the memories being recounted.

One Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous will have your attention from the first page, all the way until the end. It’s a book we’re positive won’t be out of our minds anytime soon. We’d love for you to join us as we get into much more detail on our podcast. Check us out at Revolver Reads: A Bookclub Russian Roulette on your podcast platform of choice, or simply @revolverreads on Instagram and let us know what you think. If you’d like to email us any future book suggestions for our roulette wheel, feel free to send them to [email protected].

Content Warnings

violetbentbackwards1036's review

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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

Content Warnings

misuki's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative 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

4.25

Content Warnings

baccoamon's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Ocean Vuong will be remembered as one of the masters of language and lyric. This is more of a portrait of a soul than it is a traditional novel. Vuong's beautiful and precise perspectives create a theater of the mind in a way that will leave the reader feeling every emotion as if it were their own. This book is not for readers who are not a fan of poetic prose. Vuong leans into his strengths but it can run a bit tedious for the readers who are not familiar or a fan of his poems. A masterful work that doesn't shy away from the complicated nature of culture, identity, immigration, self discovery, and queerness.

This read is stark and moving but it could be too rattling for some readers. Read trigger warnings and know that the gruesome details do lead to a catharsis of sorts within the over arching ideas expressed.

Content Warnings

marena02's review

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.75

Content Warnings

melitorian's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.5

one of the most beautifully written books i've read in a long time. highly recommend this emotional journey to anyone

Content Warnings

mel_muses's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

A beautiful novel full of nuance, grief, love, and ultimately self. This book is so vivid that I actually had to look up whether this was a memoir or novel. I may not have grasped everything, but I'm glad I read it and have this story to think back on. I know it'll stick with me.

Content Warnings

More...