On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (Paperback)

from EBT1002

This was one of the hardest books to rate. I loved aspects of it. Vuong's prose is lovely and many scenes are so evocative as to be painful. There is one scene of animal torture which I regret that I will never be able to un-see. At the same time, Vuong's unflinching honesty about love, family, c...

from angiestahl

I had a hard time rating this book. It is decidedly not average, but nor does it (in my opinion) deserve the tremendous praise it's gotten in literary world. It is...evocative, which I guess makes sense as the author is apparently a poet and this his first novel. It reads more like an intimate me...

from rosienotrose

How to describe this book and give it the credit it is due? It is beautiful and poetic and atmospheric and difficult in equal measures. It is described as a letter from a son to a mother but it feels more like a poem. There are so many turns of phrase that danced off the page which makes sense wh...

from dawnlovesbooks

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. This novel reads like poetry and it might be the most beautiful prose I have ever read. The narrator of this book writes a letter to his mother. “You're a mother, Ma. You're also a monster, But so am I- which is why I can't turn away from you.” As h...

from nancyjean19

What a beautiful book. I loved the way Vuong placed delicate descriptions of light, plants, and insects in among descriptions of poverty, domestic violence, and addiction. Beauty itself is a theme that he explores throughout the novel, and I like the way he celebrates his own beauty and that of t...