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

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Spoilers!

Unsure how to feel about this one. Can definitively say I didn't enjoy it. Though I'm not entirely sure it was meant to be enjoyed.

What I liked:

• Some of the writing was truly beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the passages about the monarchs, which were poignant and moving
• The explorations into the opioid epidemic were moving, heartbreaking, and very well-written

What I didn't like:

• Some of the writing was beautiful. Some of it felt overwrought and like Vuong was trying just a little too hard to make things sound profound - "laughter sounds like slaughter"...I mean, really?
• Maybe it's just that poetical novels aren't for me. I found this to be disjointed, and I was missing some aspects of plot that I usually rely on in novels to make them make sense
• I wasn't sure why he didn't just call his mother what she was: abusive. I get that things are more complicated than that, but it felt a little strange to me that the tagline for this wasn't "boy writes letter to his abusive mother"
• The novel talks about "an extraordinary revelation" and there wasn't one. 
• My biggest gripe about this book was the fanfare surrounding it. Some novels I read and think "boy, that truly WAS profound and said something real about human life" and this one was not it. But whatever, I realize that other folks will get something different out of it. Everyone comes to a novel with their own experiences and knowledges. But what I don't appreciate is the vague sense I get from this book that some of the nonsense written down was just "too deep for others to understand" and that only "real readers" or smart people will get it. It felt quite pretentious and vaguely like Vuong was playing a trick on us; saying things that were deliberately opaque just so everyone could pretend it was profound and keep pretending the emperor wore no clothes

Yeah. Or, maybe it really was profound and I just didn't get it. Either way - novels don't have to be happy, but I do feel like they should be interesting and enjoyable to read (How Much of These Hills is Gold is a great example) and this one...wasn't.