Review Novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Karya Ocean Vuong

Judul: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Penulis: Ocean Vuong

Penerbit: Penguin Press, 2019

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

***

"You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still holds nothing. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty." (pg. 12)

"I don't know if you're happy, Ma. I never asked." (pg. 32)

"Because I'm your son, what I know of work I know equally of loss. And what I know of both I know of your hands. Their once supple contours I've never felt, the palms already callused and blistered long before I was born, then ruined further from three decades in factories and nail salons. Your hands are hideous—and I hate evertyhing that made them that way." (pg. 79)

"Ma, I don't know if you've made it this far in this letter—or if you've made it here at all. You always tell me it's too late for you to read, with your poor liver, your exhausted bones, that after everything you've been through, you'd just like to rest now." pg. 240

Bahasa yang indah dan puitis dengan nuansa yang dominan melankolis dipakai dalam novel ini. Karena diceritakan dari sudut pandang orang pertama, maka narasi dalam novel ini juga terasa begitu personal. Emosi dan pengalaman yang disampaikan oleh narator terasa begitu dekat, bahkan membuat pembaca seakan-akan berada di satu tubuh yang sama dengan Little Dog.

Hubungan keluarga antara narator dan ibunya menjadi tema sentral yang diangkat di novel ini. Selain itu, ada hal-hal terkait identitas diri, kebangsaan, trauma perang, kekerasan, budaya, hingga identitas gender yang juga diuraikan lapisan demi lapisannya terkait perjalanan hidup Little Dog. Isu-isu yang bagi kebanyakan orang mungkin masih dianggap sensitif menjadi bagian dari eksplorasi narator dalam novel ini dalam menyampaikan suara dan pengalamannya.

Membaca novel ini butuh kejelian sendiri. Sebab rangkaian surat yang ditulis oleh Little Dog disampaikan tidak dengan cara yang kronologis. Sehingga perlu lebih seksama untuk memperhatikan pada usia berapa Little Dog merasakan atau mengalami hal tertentu, dan dengan siapa sebenarnya ia bicara di surat tertentu yang dia tulis.

Kompleksitas kehidupan manusia, hubungan cinta, dan perjalanan mencari jati diri serta identitas diri yang begitu personal menjadi tema-tema yang akan kita renungkan setelah membaca On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.