A review by booktrotting
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Have seen a few people call this book pretentious but maybe the true pretension is the desire to identify pretense in any work of literary fiction that deliberately doesn't take the path of least resistance in its language. Vuong is super-deliberate, never using a word more or less than what he means.

Vuong possesses a level of craftsmanship that makes me furiously jealous of his writing abilities - easily one of the best books I've read in a long time.