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

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book took me a long time to finish because, on top of me being busy, Vuong's words seem to be multilayered. I couldn't get past a page without annotating almost every other sentence. I think that's because he's trained in writing poetry, so he took his time in finding the right words and metaphor and imagery to put on paper, and as a reader, it's my job to strip it off until all that's left is its meaning, its core.

I enjoyed the writing style: a mix of essayistic, prosaic, and poetic. Very introspective, which is right up my alley. The way the whole story is a letter and is structured in vignettes made me feel like I was following Vuong's natural stream of consciousness, but I was never lost the way most stream-of-consciousness stories had made me feel.

The only thing that's keeping me from giving this a full five stars is the dialogue. There are parts, especially with Rose's and Lan's dialogue, that seemed more like Vuong's own voice rather than his mother's and grandmother's. This is noticeable on the first part, but as the book progressed, the dialogue became more natural to me.
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