Ocean Vuong poetry collections (so Time is a Mother or Night Sky with Exit Wounds.)
I loved On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous but Ocean Vuong is a poet first and foremost and I think it really shows in the novel. It’s almost like an unrefined, cliched version of his poetry. Many of the same themes get brought up but with a lot more finesse and care put into it. If poetry had a bigger audience NSwEW definitely would’ve been more than enough to make him a national star (it did in poetry but well, we know how small that category is if you’re not pedalling Kaur-style poetry that slaps you with the meaning).
Ocean Vuong poetry collections (so Time is a Mother or Night Sky with Exit Wounds.)
I loved On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous but Ocean Vuong is a poet first and foremost and I think it really shows in the novel. It’s almost like an unrefined, cliched version of his poetry. Many of the same themes get brought up but with a lot more finesse and care put into it. If poetry had a bigger audience NSwEW definitely would’ve been more than enough to make him a national star (it did in poetry but well, we know how small that category is if you’re not pedalling Kaur-style poetry that slaps you with the meaning).