Scan barcode
mittland's review against another edition
5.0
the second to last poem is absolutely life-changing. must-read must-read guys.
allthings's review against another edition
3.0
I'm torn on how to rate this as I swing back and forth between "wow, this is so beautiful and deep and too smart for me" and "this is a bunch of pretty nonsense that would work best as instagram captions".
Ocean Vuong has an incredibly different lived experience to my own, and I appreciate this insight into it, but at the same time, many of the poems here feel too dense with deeply personal context for me to relate to. I was also surprised to learn that the author is in their 30s, as there was a lot of the kind of angst and trite aphorisms that I would expect from a younger author. At the same time, the willingness to grapple with uncomfortable topics and the way his raw emotion reaches through the text is inspiring.
Like I said, I'm torn on it. There were several poems that moved me and spoke to me on a subconscious level, but there were also many instances where I reread a line several times and couldn't for the life of me work out what it was trying to say. But of course, enjoyment of poetry is very subjective, and I think there's a lot to love here for the right audience.
Ocean Vuong has an incredibly different lived experience to my own, and I appreciate this insight into it, but at the same time, many of the poems here feel too dense with deeply personal context for me to relate to. I was also surprised to learn that the author is in their 30s, as there was a lot of the kind of angst and trite aphorisms that I would expect from a younger author. At the same time, the willingness to grapple with uncomfortable topics and the way his raw emotion reaches through the text is inspiring.
Like I said, I'm torn on it. There were several poems that moved me and spoke to me on a subconscious level, but there were also many instances where I reread a line several times and couldn't for the life of me work out what it was trying to say. But of course, enjoyment of poetry is very subjective, and I think there's a lot to love here for the right audience.
lucajgrainger's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
5.0
smsadeee's review against another edition
3.0
2.5*
I recently finished reading 'On this Earth we're briefly gorgeous' by the same author and I was delighted by the author's enchanting writing style. Upon discovering that the author is also a poet, I was intrigued and decided to give this book a chance, despite not being particularly a big fan of poetry. I must admit that this book did not succeed in changing my perspective. While there were a few standout moments, the majority of the poems ranged from average to below my expectations. In my opinion, the author's talents would be better suited to writing novels rather than poetry.
I recently finished reading 'On this Earth we're briefly gorgeous' by the same author and I was delighted by the author's enchanting writing style. Upon discovering that the author is also a poet, I was intrigued and decided to give this book a chance, despite not being particularly a big fan of poetry. I must admit that this book did not succeed in changing my perspective. While there were a few standout moments, the majority of the poems ranged from average to below my expectations. In my opinion, the author's talents would be better suited to writing novels rather than poetry.