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

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t. The first part was the best in my opinion, and I did appreciate the book’s exploration of war, immigration, parents, and queerness. Overall, I didn’t understand the sometimes overly metaphoric tangents, even though I wanted to understand what they were getting at, I didn’t. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the book and seemed like an author’s attempt to work in certain points without actually having to tie it into the story. As the book went on, graphic descriptions turned gruesome and torturous to read. I’m not one to shy away from reality or portrayals of it, but it was too much for me at times, and most of the time it didn’t seem to add to the point of the book. It was obviously written by a talented poet, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Content Warnings

readbycarina's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark 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

4.0

Content Warnings

wetdirtreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book absolutely lives up to the hype it’s received. And then some. It is so so so beautiful. It is also, however, truly harrowing. From start to finish.

It’s not (for me, at least) one of those books where you sob uncontrollably all the way through it. I cried a bit at one point. But it mostly just left me feeling completely hollow. Like a trauma response – a dissociated ‘freeze’ state. The book doesn’t offer a release from this emotional purgatory – which I assume is very intentional. To provide any relief would be disingenuous, because the pain this book articulates is still so raw, so real, so relevant.

Vuong doesn’t try to offer the reader insights into Little Dog’s experience – little morsels of wisdom – like you’re watching him through a window or on a TV screen. He brings you right into it. Right into Little Dog’s remembering; his pleasure & his pain. You don’t get to just consume his story as a fun lil trauma porn fix and then walk away from it unscathed. It sticks with you. Like Gorilla Glue, that super heavy-duty stuff that’s a real bitch to get off.

If discomfort and tension are not things you look for in a read, then this book probably isn’t for you. However, even if you do enjoy those things, I would still highly recommend emotionally preparing yourself before reading it. I’d also recommend following it with something light-hearted and fun. Otherwise, you will just feel pain. Indefinitely.

My personal storytelling practice usually seeks to destabilise comfort, not reinforce it. I often write in the hopes that people will walk away with questions, with a renewed awareness of the messy, unresolvable, undefinable nature of the world – not answers, conclusions or relief. This book does all of that. Times a thousand. And I feel honoured to have been hurt by it.

(Review originally posted on Instagram)

Content Warnings

novella42's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I can still hear Vuong's gentle, relentless voice when I read quotes or pages from the hardcopy I finally picked up. Sometimes I read a little to remind the writer part of my brain how lyrical words work, and what kind of writer I want to be.

His author-read audiobook performance of this powerful book was nothing short of magnificent.

A queer Vietnamese American man writes a letter to his mother, a survivor of the Vietnam War, who cannot read. His love for her, and hers for him, is ferocious and beautiful beyond words. Vuong is a poet, but strangely, I find his novel more compelling than his poetry. Tons of content warnings, to the degree I don't know when I will ever feel mentally resilient enough in my own C-PTSD to re-read it in its entirety, but if you're in the mood for a good cry, I can't think of anything more cathartic.

Content Warnings