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

4.0

This is an undeniably beautiful book. The language is intimate, urgent, emotional, so many things. Vuong writes reflectively about his family's history and his own history in such an honest way. On a sentence level, what Vuong does with words and story is really interesting. The images he uses are interwoven throughout the entire novel in subtle reference and call backs that create a mosaic-like effect of understanding. Easy to miss, but when you notice this among everything else he manages to do with words it is... ? the shit. what a great writer. wow. Definitely worth the read- it's a short book either way. That being said, the narrative structure of the books isn't really there. Don't read if you find you need a strong story structure or even a plot line to get through a book. To me, this almost reads like a poetry collection.