Enigmatic and perplexing, in a good way!

Reading On Earth, We’re Briefly Gorgeous is akin to admiring a piece of art, acknowledging the genius of certain aspects, failing to understand other ambiguous components, but ultimately concluding that it was, at the end of the day, indeed something special.

I confess that there are aspects of this book that I did not connect with, or moved through too fast to fully grasp what Vuong was trying to say. As well, Gorgeous has an enigmatic and perplexing structure that is representative of the mind of a poet, where nothing is linear, everything is circular, everything is connected, and the most unexpected emotions and memories flare up at any given time.

Regardless, this is definitely a book I will return to in time - I was confused, I was frustrated, I was overwhelmed, I was moved, I was awed by the author’s literary talent.

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Beautiful writing

Very descriptive. I wish it was broken into shorter sections because you need to savour every word.

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Truly beautiful !

Vuong’s prose is a work of art. This is a sweeping saga that expands and contracts like a beating heart, told with Vuong’s seemingly innate sense of rhythm and metaphor. A genuine soul-baring account of a boyhood adrift in contradiction.

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I felt like a real human being listening to this

I am listening to the person as much as to the story.  I had to buy this after I heard the sample of Ocean Vuong's voice writing a letter to mother. I was crushed. I had to hear more. I had to take it slow, in small pieces and in private because hearing the words I couldn't walk. I had to kneel weeping. At first. I couldn't bear it but this grieving son had to have his sadness. At least it's real and I felt close to my mother hearing Ocean. Every son loves his mother. Maybe because of this book I was able to the second time release the last of my  mother's crushed bones in the river.

By 'performance' I mean narration: 5/5. I thought the author-narrator was a woman until the story progressed. It didn't matter. Ocean's voice is perfect for the subjects.

By 'overall'  I mean the writing: 5/5. Poetic. Believable. I am there. Even if it isn't a true story it has to be true. Co-incidentally, I lost my mum to the anguish, frustration and fear of dementia. Then the raw slow grip of death. I will never know what part her doctors' prescriptions for anti-psychotics and many years of oxycodone played.

By 'story' I mean content: 4/5 This book is not gay literature and I hope the author refuses to accept any such writing awards of that label. It is about a man's coming to terms with who he is, about his relationship with his lover, and his respect for his gramma and his mum (who has a character fault - so did mine, whose doesn't and who doesn't?)

The only reason I took off one point is because the graphic descriptions of sex and sexual attraction. Even if affectionate more often than raw (there is only  one truly  'get down and dirty' episode, a small minority of the book), well... how to put thus honestly and respectfully...  as one psychiatrist from Montreal points out, sexuality isn't about 'preferences' so much as it's about the clear line, the disgust factor. For me, it's any cocks in the story other than my own or a sympathetic protaganist doing the fucking with a female (get used to Anglo-Saxon vulgarities mixed with Latinate high-brow in the book too).

But more that than I couldn't see the appeal of macho Trevor, even for Ocean. But, mostly just the details of Trevor's body and sex I could do without. Yet, that wouldn't be fair. The author is the author and this is his genuine experience. It has been a few hundred (thousand?) years of men who aren't the slightest bit interested in breeder couple love-making scenes in movies. They too must have been squirming or like myself ignoring it all ir trying hard to appreciate it on some level. They haven't been throwing up all over the place. So, lesson learned. 

The good news is that sex is not the overwhelming part of the book, but it *is* a significant part so I had to as if change my mental gears to neutral and focus on the emotions which could be anyone's, including my own. Ultimately, with all the sex, it's still a love story, of desire, seduction, play, pleasure and loss. And from a male perspective - so I can certainly relate to it better than a formulaic female romance novel.

And although on the level of feeling the following didn't bother me, intellectually/ politically it did: the boys are 14 and 16 at the beginning of the story (something like that). I am happy for them. But not completely. I am in fact envious. Why?


Where is the fiction or literature with erotic elements written from the POV of a young girl and her lust and love for her slightly older barely of-majority male (or for that matter, female) lover? Whenever a few works appear there is outrage from the academy and censorship from sponsors. Effectively, statistically, such a genre doesn't exist!   Now, obviously I  don't blame the author for social standards (and double standards in law) but it still bugs me - that this erotic aesthetic that skirts the edges of propriety is accepted in the homosexual world (and by heterosexuals of the homosexual world) but not by heterosexuals in the heterosexual world. There is a double standard in life as in art. I am guessing that there is also tolerance for these kinds of stories among lesbians. Maybe it is something as prosaic as straight men don't read. But I think there is more to it. And more sinister.

Conclusion: get over it and congratulate the author.

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Couldn’t finish the book

The author is obviously talented.
The story is goodish.
The narration is very good.
The style the author chose? Ruined the whole thing for me! I just couldn’t take it anymore and stopped almost half way through. It really bothered me that the book was written as a letter, I mean the whole thing!! I know the description says that the story comes in the form of a letter, but I honestly didn’t realize that the whole book was a letter! Maybe it should’ve been written as an autobiography?

Do I recommend it? It’s hard to tell, but if you don’t mind reading/listening to an eight-hour-long letter go ahead and give it a try, you might like it. I didn’t.

beautiful and haunting.

this book was such a wonderful dive into a life. there was gentle honesty in exploring the nooks and crannies of all the people orbiting his life. really beautiful prose and SO worth it if you’re poetically inclined. a seriously beautiful piece of work.

Unparalleled

Ocean Vuong writes in such a vulnerable and artistic way that just breaks you. I don’t think I’ve ever read/listened to something as emotional and real. As an queer Asian Canadian, it’s like this book cracked me open and I absolutely loved it. I think this is something that will stick with me for a long, long time.

So powerful, a physical experience!

Vuong's approach to story telling let alone his powerful narration absolutely left the hairs on my arms stand up page after page. While I may not be Vietnamese, I am Taiwanese-Canadian immigrant belonging to the LGBT+ community this novel truly reached deep into my heart. His beautiful composure of his letter and the delivery of his words to his mother left an imprint and absolutely moved me as I listen to him. A poetic gesture to love, life and death. Best to keep kleenex close by.

Ocean Vuong is a monster

Ocean Vuong is not only an amazing writer, he’s a fully develop artist in every sense of the word. This was an incredible Audible experience

Intense and very moving

Deftly written with a poetic sense of prose. This story was intimate, personal and very touching.