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A review by purplemuskogee
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
When I started reading this, I thought "Wow! 5 stars!" Then I thought "Ok, 4 stars". Now I think we are down to 3.5.
There's a lot to like about this short novel. The narrator, who writes to his mother - who, incidentally, cannot read and will never read his letter - remembers growing up with his mother and his grandmother, who nicknamed him Little Dog. Having left Vietnam after the war, his family tries to recover but still suffers from the trauma of the war. I liked his retelling of growing up marginalized, exploring his sexuality, listening to stories his grandmother tells him, his white grandfather. I felt though at times that it was trying too hard to be clever, and to be literary: the fragments, the ellipsis, the short sentences. I also could have done without his graphic depictions of animal cruelty, which I didn't think brought much to the story and were here for shock value.
There's a lot to like about this short novel. The narrator, who writes to his mother - who, incidentally, cannot read and will never read his letter - remembers growing up with his mother and his grandmother, who nicknamed him Little Dog. Having left Vietnam after the war, his family tries to recover but still suffers from the trauma of the war. I liked his retelling of growing up marginalized, exploring his sexuality, listening to stories his grandmother tells him, his white grandfather. I felt though at times that it was trying too hard to be clever, and to be literary: the fragments, the ellipsis, the short sentences. I also could have done without his graphic depictions of animal cruelty, which I didn't think brought much to the story and were here for shock value.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Addiction