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

Wow, this might be the most beautiful book I have ever read. The blend of poetry and prose was masterful; nearly every page had a sentence that made me stop in my tracks. The whole book felt like I was watching the author toss pebbles into a pond one by one and counting the ripples on the surface. It was so meditative and emotional and intimate and heartfelt and bittersweet; my eyes stung for a good portion of this novel. I can't believe that Vuong was able to write about love, family, war, addiction, violence, identity, and loss with such great nuance in under 300 pages. This was fantastic. I imagine that I'll keep thinking about this book for a long time to come.

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atsundarsingh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

I didn't know what to expect of a poet's first novel, but this is so lyrically written it hurts even when it's good. I love the epistolary format, and even more so because it's written to someone who may never read it. I was also really taken by the way Vuong writes about loving a parent who is violent but whose violence is understandable in a sense, since it comes from a series of overlapping traumas and still being angry or helpless with that parent. Really moving and bold novel, with some hard to read content.

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ajoyr's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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libbyhb's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This was such a refreshing and beautiful read. I loved the way Ocean Vuong handled multiple narrative threads running at the same time - I never felt like it was jarring or confusing, but instead like it made them all connect together so clearly. The story zooms in to the granular details of a moment, and then in the next chapter zooms out to look at larger trends, especially related to the Vietnam War. I particularly liked the use of Tiger Woods's story as comparison to the main character's, it was somehow very touching? As someone who didn't care at all about Tiger Woods going into this. The main character's relationship with his mother and grandmother was also so heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time, and visceral too. Loved this.

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surelyinthefountain's review

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challenging dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

There's not much else to say other than this book is gorgeous. I haven't oscillated between laughter and intense sobbing so much in...a long time.

The horse story still cracks me up.

And man, this novel's so deeply queer, both thematically and structurally: I love how you can see the sheer craft at play in sculpting the narrative, yet it's never trite or obvious -- more something that you recognize when it comes up and admire intensely.
It is a very heavy read, though. If you're not in the right space for that, I'd save this for another time. But it's absolutely beautiful and worth the effort, in my opinion. This has easily become one of my favorite books!

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