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

Ocean Vuong writes so beautifully and so poetically. I felt I was able to enjoy this book because I saw it less as a novel and more as a poetic memoir in the form of vignettes, which he uses to narrate his experiences growing up as a child in the United States as a Vietnamese immigrant post-Vietnam war to a parent with PTSD. Vuong's writing is so vividly melancholic and haunting, and these feelings follow even during the soft vulnerability of his childhood and youth. There's so much introspection but also a stillness as if no matter how far time and space takes you, you will always be haunted by this current time, place, and feeling.

I want to include one of my favorite quotes from the book: "I know you believe in reincarnation. I don’t know if I do but I hope it’s real. Because then maybe you’ll come back here next time around. Maybe you’ll be a girl and maybe your name will be Rose again, and you’ll have a room full of books with parents who will read you bedtime stories in a country not touched by war. Maybe then, in that life and in this future, you’ll find this book and you’ll know what happened to us. And you’ll remember me. Maybe."

Content Warnings

fionystory's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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swbunn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Beautiful and engaging.

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gvstyris'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

4.75

I had thought sex was to breach new ground, despite terror, that as long as the world did not see us, its rules did not apply. But I was wrong.
The rules, they were already inside us.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is an epistolary novel defined by its premise: the letter's intended recipient -- the main character's mother -- is illiterate, and will thus never read it. This permits a unique vulnerability, which, in addition to Vuong's lyrical prose and sensitivity towards his characters, is perhaps the greatest strength of this narrative.

That being said, I understand why this novel won't be for everyone. Our protagonist, Little Dog, tells his life story through a series of non-linear digressions that echo his mind's messy categorisation of 20+ years of memories. Little Dog himself notes that "I'm not telling you a story so much as a shipwreck--the pieces floating, finally legible." It's a structure quite uncommon in Western literature, utilising the Japanese narrative technique of kishōtenketsu to reject a clear plot in favor of replicating reality. Vuong's writing asked me to reconsider what it means to write a "novel," and I'm completely in awe of his creative process. I'm similarly excited to check out more of his poetry.

On an emotional level, I found Little Dog's story of coming-of-age (or as Vuong puts it, "coming-of-art") as a queer Vietnamese-American boy to be incredibly eye-opening. His empathy towards his grandmother/mother's struggles with PTSD really stuck with me, as well as his consideration of his place in wider American culture. In truth, I initially struggled to read about Little Dog's relationship with queerness because of its emphasis both on physicality/sex and trauma. I've since finished the novel, however, with an increased understanding of why we need to represent a range of queer experiences -- and do so with sensitivity.

What a read. I'll leave you with another line of Vuong's beautiful prose:

All this time I told myself we were born from war--but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty.
Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence--but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it.

Content Warnings

arainey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad fast-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? No

3.5

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