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

5.0

It’s been a long time since I’ve actually cried while reading a book, but Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous affected me on a raw and emotional level. I loved so many things about this. The deliberate way the author jumps from experience to experience within a single paragraph and then is able to seamlessly transition back to a moment already described. The visceral descriptions throughout the novel, like, 

 

“Then I wanted more, the scent, the atmosphere of him, the taste of French fries and peanut butter underneath the salve of his tongue, the salt around his neck from the two-hour drives to nowhere and a Burger King at the edge of the country” 

 

reminds me of first loves. While already a short novel, there were a few areas where I felt a bit impatient while reading, or where the philosophical meanderings felt a bit too unoriginal, especially when related to being a writer.