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

This is one of my favourite books of all time. Reading this book felt like I was being gripped by the shoulders and forced to look at my life up close through Ocean Vuong's poetic musings on his own.

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.

Content Warnings

jessedithgc's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Content Warnings

persipha_books's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-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? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

lenni_sc's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense 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

3.0

Vielleicht geht in der Übersetzung zu viel verloren von dem was Ocean Vuong ausmacht. Anders kann ich mir die Begeisterung des Großteils der Lesenden nicht erklären. Das Thema ist so wichtig und interessant, aber die Hälfte der Worte hätten für mich gereicht. In seinen Gedichten mag die Schreibweise großartig sein, hier wirkte es (erstaunlicherweise) eher pretentious.

Das Grundkonzept des Romans ist meiner Meinung nach großartig: ein Brief, der von der Empfängerin nie gelesen werden wird, erzeugt eine emotionale Tiefe, die anders vielleicht nicht möglich wäre. Aber Umsetzung na ja.

Content Warnings

yolie's review against another edition

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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

4.25

This book needs you to take your time. Although the novel appears slim it is quite dense in terms of the content and Vuong’s prose. Some chapters read more like short stories and long form poetry than a linear account. The book has moments of absolute hopelessness, you’re shattered by Little Dog’s accounts of growing up an Asian immigrant in America, gay and poor. His one-sided and ill-fated relationship with Trevor makes me cautious (and sad) to say he is Little Dog's 'first love'. So much of their relationship is marred by Trevor's homophobia and recklessness.

I wish less time was spent on that relationship and more weight was given to the other significant relationships in his life and the milestones he achieves in his adulthood.

But there’s beauty in it too - a nod to the book’s title. Vuong/ Little Dog is able to hold so much compassion for people, he chooses to see them in their gorgeousness - irrespective of the brevity of that moment. Long after the novel is over you’ll keep coming back to certain phrases, marvelling at how stunning and lyrical Vuong’s writing is.

One of my favourite passages from the book reads:
“Because the sunset, like survival, exists only on the verge of its own disappearing. To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.”

Content Warnings

geneebee's review

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challenging dark reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

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