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

3.75

Finally got around to this one thanks to Asian American Lit. It was definitely good - moving and poetic and all that. But I don't know, perhaps I've become desensitized to poetic literature thanks to the never ceasing influx of the same style of writing being published on TikTok and Twitter. I don't really interpret pretty, traumatic writing that well. I suppose I'll leave it to whoever is working on the A24 adaptation of this novel. It just kind of felt like it was meant to be read with Alison by Slowdive playing in the background the entire time. I don't think that was the actual intention of the author, of course. A lot of important stuff in here rooted in raw realities. Generational Asian trauma is no joke, no matter how oversimplified of a form it's taken on in Western society. A little bit excited to hopefully get more specific with this and write my final research paper examining the effects of parenting with PTSD.