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tessareads_ 's review for:
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
The story was interesting and I feel I learned a lot about Vietnam and Vietnamese Americans but I didn't like how it was written. It jumped all over the place, changed tenses (time and personal) and structure, making it hard to follow. It often started off telling one story and then went on a tangent about something unrelated and I found myself rushing through those parts to get back to the original point. Sometimes it focused way too much on particular imagery which just got a bit boring and repetitive. For me, a lot of it just felt pretentious. It felt like a lot of things were just thrown in, like the mention of friends who he hadn't mentioned previously. Also, are we not over the bury your gays trope by now? This book was published in 2019, there was no need.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse