Reviews

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

the_reader_in_me__'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is an epistolary novel, a letter from a son to his mother who does not know how to read. The letter takes us in the past even before the son was born, and to the intimate part of the son's life his mother had never known and will never will, probably. The family comes from Saigon, Vietnam and move to Hartford after Saigon fell in the war.The reviews on the internet do not stop loving this book. But, even after reading it, I don't understand the hype. The book is good, yes, but also bad at the same time. Does that make sense? It does to some. That is exactly what this book presents. There are some parts which are so beautifully written, you just want to get lost and that shit is what readers live for. But it's not the entire book or even half of it, it's just some parts. I read one of the reviews on goodreads describing it something like when you order the most sophisticated dish in an expensive restaurant but end up getting the most basic thing. Then you regret paying a hefty amount for just a miniscule result. On the other hand, it might be that the style is so artistic and abstract that it went over my head. At many places in the book, I felt you need to have had to go through something in life to have a deeper understanding of the things described there. Most of the time, I was not the target audience and did not know how to feel about it. So that was a turnoff. I am still giving it 3 stars because of some scenes that I loved in the book.

nartarshar2's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

lagaialettrice's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse

winncar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

nikki_awal00's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

arrtonia's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kapitein_stormwolk's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jamie_reads_stuff's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The writing was absolutely GORGEOUS and very descriptive and incredible. Some of these quotes were absolutely outstanding. Ocean Vuong is such a talented writer. All of that said, this felt more like a short story/poetry collection and while Vuong shines in his prose, I did not really enjoy the style of storytelling. I’m still glad I read this book! I will definitely check out Vuong’s poetry

noitsbecky's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I wanted so badly to love this book. I’ve seen rave reviews, I LOVE the title and cover, the synopsis sounded good. But I didn’t love it. Honestly, it tried so hard to be beautiful and poignant and literary that it kind of became the opposite. It ended up being torturously slow and descriptive. In the end, I felt like I ~should~ be devastated or overwhelmed with emotion but I was just left lacking any feeling at all. It’s like the author tried so hard to sound poetic and beautiful that they forgot there was supposed to be a plot. And it’s disappointing because it’s not like it’s not beautiful writing. It is. It has the potential to be amazing, but unfortunately it was not. And I’m really sad about that. 2.5/5 stars.

trinh_the_plant's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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

2.5

Before starting, I believed I wouldn't like Vuong's prose; I am biased against writers who take a word or phrase and dissect and morph it over and over again. However, I generally liked the prose and there were many moments of complexity and profundity.

Unfortunately, I finished the book feeling like storylines were not taken to a conclusion, like Vuong set up but didn't end up connecting the parts of the novel. This is partly due to the pacing, where somewhere in Part II the story shifted tone and it was difficult to follow. I kept waiting for more during Part III but ended up feeling like it was unfinished.