On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous-Ocean Vuong Review

 TW:

• Addiction
• Animal violence
• Bullying
• Cancer
• Death (grandparent)
• Drug use
• Homophobia (including slurs)
• Parental abuse
• Racism
• Sexual assault
• Trauma
• War (past)

Ocean Vuong's 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' has been on my TBR for a while, but given the heartfelt reviews I have read online, I knew this was one of those books that will require a focused and clear state of mind to be able to truly enjoy. I am not sure if the time was the best one, but I did enjoy it quite a lot. Vuong is a wonderful storyteller with an important story to tell, full of loss and heartbreak, but also full of love, longing and life. 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' made me feel, moved something in me and made me reconsider certain beliefs I had. What more can you ask of a book?

Told by now an adult narrator, this book tells the story of a Vietnamese boy growing up in the USA with his mother and grandmother, who are both traumatized by Vietnam war and the atrocities committed to their people. I have not managed to find out how much of the story is from the author's real life, but it feels far too real and too raw for it not to pull at least something from real life experiences. The whole book reads like poetry and every next sentence flows perfectly against the previous one as it is clear that a lot of attention is paid to the structure and the writing technique. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking account of dealing with trauma, sexuality, gender, racism but fundamentally it is a letter from a scared little boy to his mother who cannot read. 

In this book, the narrator called Little Dog, comes back to his childhood, living in poor areas with a mother with limited English and limited opportunities both due to her lack of education and her race. He remembers the horrible situations and bullying, but also remembers the care his mother showed for him. Scenes of his life, not always chronological, become real before our eyes. In the same breath, we get the story of his teenage lover to finding out the tragic end of that boy. Very often, the way the stories and snippets were presented knocked the breath out of me, as the realization of the magnitude of his and his family's trauma hit me. 

Vuong also uses historical circumstances throughout the novel, the most obvious one being the Vietnam War. With care and understanding, he weaves the larger story with the suffering of everyday people, like Little Dog's family. This shows what happens to regular people in such an act of horrific violence. Without spoiling too much of a book (you really should read it) his mother's and grandmother's story in the war is absolutely heartbreaking. I am not Vietnamese and cannot pretend to ever fully understand the experience of Asian people in the USA, but my country has gone through the war while I was quite young and some passages hit home. For example, the fact that his mother still gets triggered by loud noises made me put the book aside for a few moments and compose myself because it was far too relatable. 

Another huge aspect of the novel is the narrator's sexuality. While I do think that the relationship between him and a white boy did contribute to the story and much like everything else felt real and raw, I am not queer, let alone a queer man. I have seen some reviews by queer men saying that they felt it did not contribute to the story the way it was written, while others thought it was an important discussion of being both queer and an immigrant person of color. What did you think? Did you think that the romance plotline contributed or weighed down the story? 

I could write passages and passages about Little Dog and his mother. The word that keeps coming to my head is heartbreaking. There is so much love and care between them, and as an adult, he realizes the sacrifices she had to make to keep them both safe and alive. But very often, this was hidden under layers of misunderstanding and inability to communicate properly with one another. There is so much nuance to their relationship that it was impossible to catch all of it at first reading. When I am ready to fully focus on both content and the form of the book, I will definitely be re-reading it. I am sure that even more beauty will reveal itself to me.

Normally, I like novels with a lot more plot than this one and I thought that I would not like 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' because it does not really have a set plot and it does not progress much. I guess you could argue it is not even a novel, but more a collection of essays of sorts, gathered around the same idea of Little Dog and his family's lives. It is more introspective and internal, and at times I was not sure at what point of Little Dog's life we are in or even if he is telling a story from before he was even born. Still, Ocean Vuong has such strong and unrelenting control of his language and form he is showing that I have been always able to find something to hold on to for understanding. This is just such a beautiful book and I cannot express enough how much I love Vuong's writing and his use of language.

I gave this book 5/5 because with 'The Poppy Wars' it is another one of my favorite books this year. I truly did not find anything in it, I did not like. Even if you do normally like plot heavy books, I would still recommend this one as Vuong's mastery with language and form and the raw nature of his storytelling will keep you in the story.

If you have any other authors or books similar to this one to recommend, please do! I would love to have my heart broken again.

source: time.com