On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous

This book was written by a poet.

That was my leading thought as I made my way through this heart wrenching tale of a Vietnamese boy coming of age in America. A story touching on a lot of themes. Poverty, love, coming of age, acceptance, and family.

Perhaps the most poetic prose that I have ever read. Each stanza manages to leave you reeling, and then it happens again. And again. For about two hundred pages.

Turns out, Ocean is in fact a poet.

Our hands empty except for our hands.