Day 24 - No Plot
I'm currently reading "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" and have suddenly realized that to appreciate this book, you have to understand the fact that this is simply Ocean Vuong telling his life story and therefore, lacks a proper plot. It may seem boring without this realization. And this has made me wonder about most memoirs, autobiographies, or biographies and whether or not they are typically written with the intention of having a thrilling plot point or not.
Specifically regarding Voung's memoir, I feel he is almost working through trauma through poetry that curates into a flowery prose that becomes difficult to follow. It also appears to have a lack of structure and although there are three parts to separate childhood, teenage, and young adult years, it is still constantly switching from one random moment to the next. But, again, plotless. Almost as if the author is just writing to himself.
In one review on Goodreads, someone described this book as a never-ending post-grad college essay due to its constant, unending descriptions. The problem with unending descriptions is that they can only work if they evoke a feeling in the reader and they just... don't. I'm having trouble feeling much from any of Vuong's writing and after having gotten through the entire first section, I simply feel a sense of disturbance at the many grotesque scenes, but specifically the macaques one (IYKYK).
I digress, back to my original point, I feel most memoirs are written about someone of status and the reason the book is compelling is due to the fact that the reader genuinely is already intrigued about the writer's life story. So, to be quite frank, it's challenging to write a true memoir as someone that no one initially cares about. Therefore, I see Ocean Vuong's memoir as much more of a piece of art in comparison to a book that he wrote because he wants people to know him. His work is typically poetry and this seems like an extensive poem (a very extensive poem).
I recently read "Come Watch the Sun Go Home" by Chen Chen and although I did not know a single thing about her prior to reading, her memoir was incredibly interesting because she led such an interesting life. This is another factor that can make a memoir interesting even if it lacks a clear plot, a fascinating life that was well-lived. My point is, I'm not going to diss Vuong too much because I think it would be tough (for him or someone unknown) to write a memoir that reaches every mark and I also just don't think that was his point in writing it.
It was meant to be a letter to his mother--or written in this format (loosely)--but the problem is his mother is illiterate and it's also written in English. It just doesn't add up. The novel feels like a sense of self but also a sense of detachment. As if Vuong originally had a lot of sentiment that went into the memoir but it somehow morphed into an idea to move others and was entirely overthought. Although I love symbolism and can appreciate it in all literature (but especially poetry), it just feels so over-the-top that it almost becomes pretentious. Like when you have to reread a poem 5x over because it just feels like a ton of words jumbled together trying to create meaning. It's so challenging to find meaning in, that it just is counterproductive of the point of a sentence moving you.
Despite all this, I will continue reading because I am not one to not finish books halfway through and I've found that sometimes when a book is complete in your mind, it becomes more meaningful and comprehendible. I'm hopeful here.