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

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I don’t know if I have the words to review this book properly. I am simultaneously numb and overwhelmed with feeling, and that feeling is both profound existential sadness and immense hope (?). This book was beautiful; every other page held lines I wanted tattooed into my brain.

This book is written as a letter from a son to a mother, telling the story of his life intertwined with his family history. As a family “born from war”, their history is turbulent and filled with tragedy. This tragedy made my heart hurt for quite literally everyone involved. But, the novel continued, diving into the beauty of loving and living, and the family became one “born from beauty”. The beauty they were born from has been directly transferred into the pages of this novel. I was somehow manipulated into loving and caring for seemingly unsympathetic characters because no one in this novel was truly unsympathetic.

Weirdly, it felt like a privilege to read this book. It was very intimate. I felt like I was crawling into Vuong’s brain and having a rummage through his memories. I loved how fractured some of the prose and ideas were; this made it feel like an actual stream of consciousness, a real letter to a real loved one.

Anyway, this review is borderline incoherent; all I can say is that this book is beautiful. Nice work.
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