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

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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

6 reviews

ada_henry's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.75

Well, I read this hoping to cry, and I got what I was looking for, so that's good.

What I Loved:
- Let me begin by saying that this may possibly be the most beautifully-written book I've read in my entire life. It was so, so lyrical, which makes sense because Vuong is a poet, but dang. It's perfect.
- The story was just... transcended? Transcended what exactly, I don't know. Maybe reality. It was a heartbreaking mixture of memories and flashbacks, examinations of the speaker, Little Dog's, life, or that of his grandmother, stories of college and high school and kindergarten, notes on love and death and joy and grief. It felt, at times, surreal. I loved it.
- I teared up about a million times while reading this. (Well, it was really only three, but still. Many times.) This story is, at its core, deeply sad. The comparisons between people and animals, love and hate, life and death really make this book feel real. The way that Vuong connects the deaths of cows, butterflies, monkeys, and buffalo to the story line so seamlessly is quite impressive, and also incredibly moving.
- The ending really hit me. Not just the last few sentences, which is usually what gets me crying, but the entire last fifty or so pages,

when Lan dies, Paul's reaction to it(honestly heartbreaking),

and the very last page all got me to tear up a little. (Although I must be very dehydrated or something, because the tears just never fell, but I had all the other symptoms of crying.)
- Mother and monster. The words seem to juxtapose each other, antonyms, polar opposites. But 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' shows that, in some cases, they are one and the same.

What I Didn't Love:
- The plot was sometimes a little bit hard to follow due to how surreal, non-linear, layered it was, but reading it was an entire experience, so that's just a minor complaint.
- Sometimes the writing was a little too flowery, which made it feel slow in some bits, but it was otherwise a very fast-paced book. Again, poets don't usually write such long and continuous pieces, so I really applaud this for being ninety percent perfect.

Final Thoughts:
- This book reminded me of two others I've read this summer: 'Diary of a Film' and 'My Government Means to Kill Me,' the former for the similar writing style and the latter for the discussion of race, culture, classism, and masculinity.
- The entire thing was so insanely quotable, but I'll leave you with my favorite:
"There is so much I wanted to tell you, Ma. I was once foolish enough to believe that knowledge would clarify, but sometimes things are so gauzed behind layers of syntax and semantics, behind days and hours, names forgotten, salvaged, and shed, that simply knowing the wound exists does nothing to reveal it." [Page 62]

4.75/5 stars.

Content Warnings