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

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

5.0

When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?

My first 5-star read of the month goes to this beautiful and harrowing letter to a mother that cannot read - Ocean Vuong's first novel, after publishing several critically acclaimed poetry collections. In this rather short book, our main character, Little Dog (called so after a fashion of giving children "bad" names to scare away demons) recounts his life in America, growing up with a mother and grandmother both still ravaged by the war that tore apart their country, Vietnam.

Less than 300 pages are enough to capture the crushing reality of growing up in a foreign country, ostracised through both skin colour, language problems and later, through loving the "wrong" person, the "wrong" gender. The narrative is fleeting, broken up by thoughts the narrator associates with a certain topic, fleeting autumn leaves of a conversation he never quite managed to have with his mother that way, as he tries to explain to her what being an author is about. How words can explain things while also simultaneously rendering us mute in the process, a mothertongue torn apart by a mother not having gone to school because of the war.
 
Ma, to speak in our mother tongue is to speak only partially in Vietnamese, but entirely in war

The novel is sad (a word that does not even attempt to capture the raw emotions dripping from each line) and yet, somewhat, comforting - to know that, despite struggles, Little Dog is still alive, is still searching for things to make sense of, is still holding to his place in the world, however fragile it might be. It ends, after turmoil and death, with the laughter of his mother, the person who made him, who he is - the Rose that has risen.


I cannot recommend this book enough, though I hope people pay attention to the content warnings!
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