On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Ocean Vuong’s epistolary debut novel is written to the narrator’s illiterate mother, a fact that immediately showcases Vuong’s truly astounding talent as a poet. The duality found in this idea of illiteracy (in that she both cannot understand due to her inability to read and also because of her inability to comprehend the subject matter Vuong covers) is the reason I decided this was a must-read for me.

The narrator of the story bears such a striking semblance with Vuong himself that they are often indistinguishable, but it is an immigrant story through and through, dealing with the complexities of inheritance, abuse, destruction, conflict, love, identity and language. He explores what it means to become an American as an immigrant in both positive and negative lights, the result of which resonated deeply with me and felt like a more honest and stark depiction that many I have previously come across.

Needless to say, I was completely enchanted by this book. His poetic roots as a writer shine through in every sentence, and the depth of each paragraph weighs heavily on his audience. It is a heavy book in many ways, both in subject matter and in writing style, but if you can push through his flowery poetic prose, you will stumble across gem after gem, chapter after chapter. I cannot quite put into words how much I deeply enjoyed this book and though it was part of my intentional exploration into Asian American literature, I believe it has a lot of value beyond the author’s ethnic and cultural roots.