On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A NovelThe instant New York Times Bestseller • Nominated for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction “A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post 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. 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. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years. Named a Best Book of the Year by: GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME, Esquire, The Washington Post, Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine and more! |
Contents
Section 1 | 15 |
Section 2 | 35 |
Section 3 | 45 |
Section 4 | 67 |
Section 5 | 75 |
Section 6 | 79 |
Section 7 | 95 |
Section 8 | 129 |
Section 9 | 141 |
Section 10 | 153 |
Section 11 | 165 |
Section 12 | 173 |
Section 13 | 195 |
Section 14 | 219 |
Section 15 | 235 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
already American arms asked barn beside blood body called close color coming dark dirt don't door edges empty everything eyes face fall father feel feet felt field fingers floor front Fuck girl glass grabbed green hair hand head hear heard hold hour inside It's keep knew laugh leaves legs light lips Little Dog living look mean months morning mother mouth moved neck never night okay once passed past Paul pointed pressed pulled rain remember Rose shoulder shouted side skin sleep sound speak stand started step stop story street tell thing thought told tongue took touched Trevor turned voice waiting walked wall warm watched week window woman Woods writing