A review by b0ygenius
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

dark 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? Yes

4.0

i found the first part to be slow and too disjointed and just hard to get into, and i felt that in the third part a bit too but i fell absolutely head over heels in love with the second part. like secret gay love affair, summer, teenage angst, discovering your identity???????? literally written for me. like if u look at anything i’ve ever written all of those themes are there i’m obsessed

[revisit, 3/22/22] this book stuck with me a lot more than i thought it would. revisited the second part today and yeah it still hit just as hard. absolutely gutting. perfectly captures the feeling of first love and secret relationships, especially ones where you’re young and naive and taken advantage of. the story with trevor reminds me so much of my first relationship so it just hits So hard for me. the poem at the end is just incredible too probably my favorite from vuong. so many incredible quotes from this section but “you who crawled from the wreck of summer like sons leaving their mothers’ bodies” always knocks me out. i have to physically put down the book after i read that. incredible
Expand filter menu Content Warnings