Ocean Vuong | Books & Literature » Fiction
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel
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A first novel by a poet, structured as a letter from a Vietnamese-American son who is a writer to a mother who cannot read. The book is a meditation on the limitations of words and explores the distances immigrants travel, both physically and symbolically.
Another book David Cho found compelling, detailing the emotionally taxing journey of a very hurt person navigating life.
Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. It unearths a family’s history that began before the speaker, Little Dog, 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. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and explores race, class, and masculinity.