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

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

1.5

I did not enjoy this book. There were moments that I loved but I was ultimately deceived by reviews of this book. There were usually two conflicting reviews. 1. This book is artistic and profound in the way “litttle dog” explains his story to his mom who can’t read. 2. The next review says there are exquisite writing style moments but this book was trying too hard in using the style of other great masterpieces which ultimately made it pretentious, and many sections of the book felt this way. I agree with the latter. I thought the book would be more simple in its reasoning for why on earth we’re briefly gorgeous. I wanted to like this book but the more and more I read and tried to like it, the more I wanted to stop reading. 
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