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

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is Ocean Vuong's debut novel, however it reads more like poetry or prose albeit one that runs to 242 pages. A long letter from son, Little Dog, to his mother with a really moving account of the family's relocation from war torn Vietnam in the mid 1970's ending up in the US state of Connecticut. Little Dog is trying to figure out who he is as a half Vietnamese and half American person, having a difficult childhood, experiencing discrimination and prejudice for the way he looks and discovering and exploring his sexuality as a gay man and grieving the death of his grandmother.

I appreciated the intertwining of the life stories of grandmother, mother and son and the wonderful writing style of the author although at times it does makes a story harder to follow. It is a beautiful first novel which tackles some difficult themes with grace, that is deeply moving whilst also being incredibly hard hitting.

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kayleajayne's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

This is a beautifully written book. It would be a five, but I’m really not a fan at explicit sexuality and in this book, there are parts that are too explicit. But the way Vuong writes is magical. Absolutely breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time.

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pastelmeganes's review against another edition

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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.

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carolinacortez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

"what I left behind becomes exactly what I'm running toward -- like I'm part of a family."

Tengo que ser honesta, es un libro complicado de leer, no es una lectura que se lea en una sentada (aunque es cortito), es prácticamente poesía en forma de novela, entonces mi recomendación sería que se lea despacito, disfrutando cada palabra de Ocean.

"The wound is also the place where the skin reencounters itself, asking of each end, where have you been?
Where have we been, Ma?"

Cada párrafo, cada capítulo, cada oración, son hermosos, yo no podía dejar de decir 'no puede ser' de lo bello que está escrito y se ve el amor que hay detrás de cada palabra, que pensó la mejor manera de mostrar una parte de la vida de mucha gente.

"Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. Buy if you were god, you know it's a flood."

En cuanto a las relaciones (tanto con su mamá, abuela, como con Trevor) están súper marcadas las diferencias, como la personalidad de little dog se moldaba según con quién estaba, según lo que la otra persona necesitará de el (muy mirrorball de su parte)

"You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing"

En resumen es una novela preciosísima, solo hay que tener en cuenta que requiere su tiempo para digerirla bien.

Content Warnings

yummosocks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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