On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

As lyrical as his previous book, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong’s sophomore effort is distinct in that it is classified “A Novel.” The book tells of protagonist Little Dog’s immigrant childhood, spliced through with family stories and memories from both Vietnam and the U.S., and his teenage years and first love, all in the format of a letter written by Little Dog to his illiterate mother. Unfortunately, the novel is made up less of tension and release, character development and conflict, than it is of syrupy language, heady pronouncements that ache with trying-too-hard, and an overly-strong influence of Barthes. The novel is all the more disappointing because it promises so much: Vuong is an obviously talented lyrical writer, and the story hidden in On Earth’s verbosity seems like it would be a good one if only it were more deftly told. It could be argued that the novel’s disjointed, climax-less style is postmodern or queer. But offering these labels would detract from these terms, suggesting that writing which is postmodern or queer can simply give up in facing the challenge of making a story, of rendering meaning out of the chaos and senselessness of modern life.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is certainly not all bad, and could even have been great with a fierce editor. Vuong makes visible realities that are often forgotten or obscured by white supremacist xenophobic hetero capitalist patriarchy, from labor in tobacco fields and nail salons to young, queer, interracial love and sex. Unfortunately, since he is still writing like a poet here, and one drunk on all the space of a novel no less, these realities come across overblown and unattached, floating across the pages, in danger of popping.

Subjects this book includes which some readers may be sensitive to: racism, xenophobia, opioid addiction, overdose, death, abuse, alcoholism, animal cruelty, war.