A review by lauralfp
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

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

3.5

I know a lot of people absolutely adore this book. And it’s not that I disliked it — 3.5/5 is a 70% rating, after all — it just didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. 

Written as a letter from the son of a Vietnamese immigrant to a mother who cannot read, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous covers a lot of emotional themes in its 240 short pages, from family and generational trauma, to war, to personal identity and the human experience. 

Vuong is first and foremost a poet. This definitely comes across in his prose, and despite my final rating there were many beautiful individual quotes that I picked out and saved. However, this writing style (I saw a TikTok reviewer describe it as “1000 slam poetry entries disguised as a novel” 🤣) meant that the narrative often jumped around and I struggled to connect with the characters and their stories as a result. 

Undoubtedly an important and poignant read and I'm glad I added it to my repertoire, it just didn’t quite live up to the very high expectations I had set for it (which is probably more of a me problem!) 
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