4 stars
Date of review: April 29, 2024
This book is written in an extremely original way: fluctuating between sharp, metaphorical, descriptive sentences that blew me away with their intensity, and long, reflective, rambling chapters that were quite difficult to understand and piece together. This unique literary technique, in combination with the way chapters jumped across various different points in time, had the effect of breaking up the narrative, creating a sense of confusion and disorganisation – all of which I imagine must be representative of the mental states experienced by some of the characters in the novel. I do think the fragmented narrative took the focus away from the storyline at times, and I found myself unable to follow what was going on. That being said, this author must have a very visual mind – the way connections were made between different concepts, and subsequently put into words saturated with meaning, made the sentences jump out of the page…what an awe-inspiring read this was.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is available to purchase from World of Books.
