On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Review on Ocean Vuong's Debut Novel

It's powerful how a creative form could allow an audience access to veer into the souls and minds of its creators. How, along lines and plots, characters and undertones, we are shed light into a perspective and a reality to some extent that its creators intend to express - intend us, as the audience, to acknowledge. After all, singers can only sing the notes they can reach and writers can only write what they know.

Passion and experiences - these are what drives us to speak, to move, to listen and be heard. I've always been intrigued with literature, poetry mostly. Before I could even comprehend how one line contained a plethora of underlying messages hidden beneath the layers of literary devices that the younger version of myself could not yet grasp as a part of it's artistic merit, I have already recognized and admired how words could stir an intensity of emotions to people and how society uses it as an extension of themselves, if not, a replication and a form of preservation to their thoughts. 

I saw it as a form of self expression, one which brought people closer to each other. I remember writing poems when I was younger, giving them to my parents on special occasions and even to friends. Although I may not be as exposed to literature (classic, modern, and in whatever timestamp or era) as those who study it as a degree or career, and I may still have a lot of readings to accomplish, considering my ever-growing pile of books due to my compulsive consumerist tendencies (which is not for us to unpack as of now but some other time), I do know a thing or two about poetry - that it does not require rhymes for it to be beautiful, the play of words is simply beautiful enough.

I tend to go to the poetic route more often than I would like, but that's a trait in me that I'm embracing more now. There's just something magical and fascinating in how words and even their absence could bring so much meaning - most especially when we see the message unfold right before our eyes. When we see something more real, more authentic, and more genuine, we appreciate it in all its realness and vulnerability. Through it, in whatever emotion it may stir, we see its beauty.

Before I go astray with the purpose of this article, let me introduce myself first. I'm thebookreyviews, a Filipina who has a thirst for knowledge and a hunger for words. I'm here to talk about a contemporary novel that made me stare at a wall every time I put it down, that made my heart feel a sudden and sharp prolonged pang with every page, that made me bawl my eyes out, and appreciate the artistry behind an author's writing and was left in awe with the poet's way of thinking.  

A sound that isn't heard but felt, a voice, tender and delicate but full of volume and strength. That is how I would describe this novel in one sentence. Ocean Vuong's debut novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" is a work of fiction tinged with the vigorous reality of colorism, the tainted relationships brought by trauma, the repercussions and turmoil war leaves behind, and the struggles of identity, sexuality, belongingness, and racism. Due to how the book was executed, I rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars and for such a short read (just 200+ pages long), it contains so much - one voice for all the immigrants who speak a diversity of language but are silenced, one voice for all the sons, daughters, and children who have complicated relationships with their family, one voice for all of the victims of abuse, one voice for the pressure and prejudice that people of color have and continue to endure due to racism, and one voice for everyone who has survived war and to those who are at war - be it with themselves or in whatever form or structure it may be.

The novel is written in epistolary format that starts with a line of hesitance from its writer, Little Dog, to his illiterate mother, Rose. This uncertainty insinuates how he has tried again and again to find the right words - to reach her, even though the words are nothing but letters consisted of lines and curves to her. Writing letters to a person deprived of the privilege of education as a consequence of war and poverty, instead of talking, the only way for the two of them to hear and be heard, indicates the gap in their relationship - that he'd rather choose miscommunication than be heard, seen, understood.

Rose isn't a perfect mother but she's also a sister, a daughter, a neighbor, a manicurist, an immigrant, a human being. Humans are not one dimensional - they are not enclosed in one identity. In this enigma of the human characteristic, we see people based on how they treat us and how they present themselves to us. Little Dog has called her a monster in his letters and that "it is not such a terrible thing to be" indicating that he acknowledges his mother's abuse and flaws but not that she's a terrible mother, because "mother" is not the only identity she has.

The novel painfully represents the strings we pull in each other's lives, how each string is a division connected to another set of strings that connects us. From his grandmother who renamed herself Lan, to notable people with Vietnamese blood such as Tiger Woods, to his mother's prejudice with colorism in Vietnam as a Vietnamese-American and her struggles as a Vietnamese- American in America, to their "roles" as lower class members of society, to Trevor's sexual confusion, identity, and addiction, and to Paul's kindness and love, proving being a family means being accepted, not being related - every character and every role they portrayed was woven intricately and poetically with such passion and grace that you saw the characters as if you were Little Dog. As if Lan was your grandmother, Rose was your mother, Mai was your aunt, Paul was your grandfather, and Trevor was your lover.

I honestly would love to dig deeper into the characters but I wouldn't want to spoil the story (as if I haven't spoiled you enough already). If you're planning to read this, which I hope you do because Ocean Vuong deserves all the hype and recognition, do take the time to look up trigger warnings as it can be too much for some - it includes violence, abuse and addiction, and even animal cruelty.