Book 17 - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Reading date - June 2020        

This is the last book I would say I read when we had an official lockdown.  As I finished, it the pubs and barbers were going to reopen (on July 4th, stupidly called Super Saturday).  The pubs re-opened at 6 a.m. and the gammons were out in force lining the pockets of that Poundshop Worzel Gummidge known to most of us as Wetherspoon. Lining up for a pint of shit beer from Spoons ain't it.  Now if it was Disrepute..then you'd be talking.  What's annoying me, however, is that piercing places, tattoo shops and waxers are still closed.  I need a wax and I need a new piercing ASAP. *update*: tattoo and piercing places are now open (14 July 2020), eyebrows are allowed to be done from 1 August 2020.  I think i may keep a note about this..in an actual notebook.

Anyway, let's get to the book.  This book is pure poetry.  It is so beautifully written.  I am unsure if this account is a memoir or if Ocean's childhood just lent parts to the story.  Either way, I ran through this book.  

The book is a letter written to the boy's mum, by the boy.  It recounts his childhood, what he learnt from her and the life his grandma had in Vietnam before him.  It is the most beautiful book I have read in a long, long time.  It made me cry (books seldom make me cry).  It is a warts and all type of book, which is a strange mix considering how beautifully written it is.  I got a bit confused with the timeframe as I assumed it was the Vietnamese War that brought the family to America but this can't be right as the mother seems to have grown up in Vietnam and then brought over to the States..she does the thing that nearly all immigrant mothers do where they get confused by things that are not familiar.  The very reason for my existence is an immigrant mother and I would give my last breath to her.

This book is how you tell a story, how you mix sadness with muted happiness and how you do justice to your characters.  This book is now number 2 in my top 10.  Browder and Cosgrave are down to 3.

Everyone with a mum should read this. Everyone with an immigrant mum should read this.  Everyone who loves poetry should read this.  Everyone should read this.


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