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caroisreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? It's complicated
4.0
I almost gave up on this book 70 pages in. The writing felt too decorative for me, like a really, really long poem. Then I saw that Ocean is a poet, and it started to make sense. Something changed in the pages after that, as I got used to his cadence and by the end, craved it. It's a difficult story, triggering, somber, a dry landscape. But the beauty really is in the poetry of every description, half sentences, fragments, trains of thought. This was a long read, because of how much meaning there was to absorb in every sentence.
I'm glad I didn't give up on this. I'll keep thinking about this memoir forever.
You'll like this is you appreciate memoirs, are in a mentally good place with darker content in real-life context, Asian American stories, LGBTQIA+ perspectives.
I'm glad I didn't give up on this. I'll keep thinking about this memoir forever.
You'll like this is you appreciate memoirs, are in a mentally good place with darker content in real-life context, Asian American stories, LGBTQIA+ perspectives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Gun violence, Cancer, Physical abuse, Racism, and Transphobia
fkshg8465's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
5.0
Such a beautifully written book - poetry thought not poetry. Full of sadness and trauma but also full of hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Homophobia, Racism, War, Abortion, Cancer, and Addiction
cepbreed's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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
3.5
I honestly expected so much more from this book. I was told it would be earth-shattering and remarkable but upon reading the last page I didn't have any strong feelings. That isn't to say I didn't like it at all or feel strong emotions during certain parts, but the novelty wore off. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous was obviously written by a poet. The prose has a poetic quality and so does the organization. Paragraphs and chapters are arranged in such a way that sometimes appears random and is in need of clarification, which in poetry you can get away with but in a novel it became tiresome as I was getting to the end. Vagueness in poetry is almost necessary, but a novel is a much less flexible medium. I think a part of the reason this quality was so glaring to me is because I just read Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks, another novel by a poet, but one that is much more successful. I enjoyed reading about Little Dog from his perspective and the concept of writing to his mother was intriguing. My heart strings were continually tugged and the intimacy of Vuong's writing made Little Dog feel like a friend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, War, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Cancer, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, and Drug abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Classism, and Colonisation
tori21's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
3.5
Needed to let the book sit in my mind for a bit to comprehend how I actually feel about it.
And I really wish I could bring myself to give the book a better score. I really do, but the disappointment I felt compared to my expectations and the overall hype, I just can't.
The writing style was beautiful and I loved how refreshing the poetry-like style was, but sometimes it got a little too much and left me confused. Which made me not enjoy the book like I wanted it to.
And I really wish I could bring myself to give the book a better score. I really do, but the disappointment I felt compared to my expectations and the overall hype, I just can't.
The writing style was beautiful and I loved how refreshing the poetry-like style was, but sometimes it got a little too much and left me confused. Which made me not enjoy the book like I wanted it to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, and Cancer
Moderate: Homophobia
pastelmeganes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
Ocean Vuong is a brilliant poet and you can see it in his writing. There are so many good quotes from this book and his perspective and reflection on his Vietnamese identity and how that intersects with his status as a first generation child of a poor single mother as well as his struggles with his sexuality are conveyed with such thought provoking idioms, metaphors and similes that it requires you to try and encapsulate the true feelings he is trying to convey to his mother. He paints such vivid images with his mastery of the english language. His work envoked many emotions within me that i never reflected on. I would adore reading another book by him; I know he writes poems mainly but his work here was just so breathtaking and tantalizing and left me craving either another memoire in the future about his life again OR a work of fiction. This book was so simple gorgeous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Drug use, Cursing, Racism, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Bullying, Dementia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Genocide
mahaofhyrule's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I really wish I could give this more stars, because at its core I think the message of this story is heartbreaking in the most beautiful way. However, as a story, I wasn't the most engaged reader.
The narrative is told through the POV of Little Dog, who is a Vietnamese immigrant boy writing a letter to his illiterate mother, who is suffering from trauma from the Vietnam War. On this premise alone, I was intrigued to get right into this story.
Let me start off by saying that Ocean Vuong is a great writer. His prose is definitely one of the stronger aspects of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous which of course is a given since he is a poet after all! There were a number of quotes I marked with sticky notes while I was reading because I had a feeling they would stick me for a long time, and I truly felt like I was present in some scenes described throughout the novel.
I was pretty hooked during the beginning, however, I started to feel more disengaged towards the middle of the book. I personally don't really read poetry that much (rarely, in fact), so I think I just felt disconnected from the writing style and it made me realize I'm probably not Vuong's target audience. I could not engage with the flowery language and I felt like because I'm not a poetry reader that a lot of the "beauty" of this work went completely over my head.
This story is supposed to be a letter, and Little Dog recaps various events at different stages of his life, and here's where I experience another issue: the events are completely scattered. What I mean by that is that one moment, he's describing a time when he was a child following another boy on the playground, and then after, he's describing another moment where he's with his dying grandmother (it wasn't these two specific moments, but hopefully you get the point). Anyway, because of how these events were framed, it not only confused me often and took me out of the story, but also ruined some tension of otherwise very emotional moments.
I'm not sure what else to say here. I feel like this caters to a very specific reader and unfortunately that reader is not me.
The narrative is told through the POV of Little Dog, who is a Vietnamese immigrant boy writing a letter to his illiterate mother, who is suffering from trauma from the Vietnam War. On this premise alone, I was intrigued to get right into this story.
Let me start off by saying that Ocean Vuong is a great writer. His prose is definitely one of the stronger aspects of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous which of course is a given since he is a poet after all! There were a number of quotes I marked with sticky notes while I was reading because I had a feeling they would stick me for a long time, and I truly felt like I was present in some scenes described throughout the novel.
I was pretty hooked during the beginning, however, I started to feel more disengaged towards the middle of the book. I personally don't really read poetry that much (rarely, in fact), so I think I just felt disconnected from the writing style and it made me realize I'm probably not Vuong's target audience. I could not engage with the flowery language and I felt like because I'm not a poetry reader that a lot of the "beauty" of this work went completely over my head.
This story is supposed to be a letter, and Little Dog recaps various events at different stages of his life, and here's where I experience another issue: the events are completely scattered. What I mean by that is that one moment, he's describing a time when he was a child following another boy on the playground, and then after, he's describing another moment where he's with his dying grandmother (it wasn't these two specific moments, but hopefully you get the point). Anyway, because of how these events were framed, it not only confused me often and took me out of the story, but also ruined some tension of otherwise very emotional moments.
I'm not sure what else to say here. I feel like this caters to a very specific reader and unfortunately that reader is not me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Homophobia
Moderate: War, Bullying, and Child abuse
Minor: Death and Cancer
mxcopmy's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
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
Let me start by saying this: Ocean is a stellar writer. He immerses you in his words that are a magical translation of feelings. They gave me warm feelings and chills every time. How he could make every detail so tangible probably reflects how those ambivalent feelings came to me.
It was just a bit hard to follow at times. He sometimes described 2 different themes in 1 chapter which confused me. I also missed some depth in the story. Every time I caught myself waiting for when I was going to understand his history better, but it didn't come. So while it was an okay experience, I might have expected a bit more emotion from myself as these letters do touch on hugely emotion-laden themes.
Tip: read the book while listening to quiet classical music in the background. This brings the story much more to the fore than otherwise!
It was just a bit hard to follow at times. He sometimes described 2 different themes in 1 chapter which confused me. I also missed some depth in the story. Every time I caught myself waiting for when I was going to understand his history better, but it didn't come. So while it was an okay experience, I might have expected a bit more emotion from myself as these letters do touch on hugely emotion-laden themes.
Tip: read the book while listening to quiet classical music in the background. This brings the story much more to the fore than otherwise!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, War, Cancer, Drug abuse, and Drug use
melanieripple's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Abortion, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, War, Death, Grief, Racism, and Mental illness
Minor: Transphobia
pikkumarja's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The language and storytelling is so beautiful, painful and touching it feels like a poem. The book is definitely challenging and it takes time and effort to read if you want to understand it fully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, War, Homophobia, and Child abuse
Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, and Violence
bookforthought's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and War