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A review by pezinho
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The way that the family dynamic was written was so beautiful. Even regarding the negative aspects of it, it was done in a way that felt so real and relatable. Many aspects of the relationship between mother and son and mother and daughter were written in ways that even if I didn't necessarily relate to it I still felt like I could understand what they felt and their motivations.
The relationship between Trevor and the main character started interesting but the longer it progressed it became very clear that they weren't a good match for each other and that it was an unbalanced relationship, so having it be such a recurring point of the book was not to my liking.
Both his relationship with his mom and his relationship with Trevor was problematic at points, however, you can see that there was love when it came to his mom and you were able to understand where she was coming from, whereas, in Trevor's case, I don't think the way he treated Little Dog can be justified by anything (other than drug abuse but alas). I guess that's why I'm more critical and didn't necessarily like reading about Trevor.
There are some books I read that fall into the "literary fiction" genre that are SO literally that I find myself struggling to make sense of some of the things written. I'm sure they have a deep meaning, I just couldn't figure out what they were. Especially around the later half of the book, at times each paragraph felt like it was talking about something else, and the writing was so poetic. The poetry was beautiful but hard to follow.
The relationship between Trevor and the main character started interesting but the longer it progressed it became very clear that they weren't a good match for each other and that it was an unbalanced relationship, so having it be such a recurring point of the book was not to my liking.
Both his relationship with his mom and his relationship with Trevor was problematic at points, however, you can see that there was love when it came to his mom and you were able to understand where she was coming from, whereas, in Trevor's case, I don't think the way he treated Little Dog can be justified by anything (other than drug abuse but alas). I guess that's why I'm more critical and didn't necessarily like reading about Trevor.
There are some books I read that fall into the "literary fiction" genre that are SO literally that I find myself struggling to make sense of some of the things written. I'm sure they have a deep meaning, I just couldn't figure out what they were. Especially around the later half of the book, at times each paragraph felt like it was talking about something else, and the writing was so poetic. The poetry was beautiful but hard to follow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Domestic abuse