On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: ‘A masterpiece’ – Max Porter

by Ocean Vuong

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER AND TIKTOK SENSATION

'A marvel' Marlon James

Brilliant, heart-breaking and highly original, discover Ocean Vuong's shattering coming of age novel.

This 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. It tells of Vietnam, of the lasting impact of war, and of his family's struggle to forge a new future.

And it serves as a doorway into parts of Little Dog's life his mother has never known - episodes of bewilderment, fear and passion - all the while moving closer to an unforgettable revelation.

'Reminded me that every word can be an incantation, and that beauty does hard and important work' Rebecca Solnit

• ISBN10: 1529110688
• ISBN13: 9781529110685
• Publish Date: 1 September 2020 (first published 4 June 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Vintage
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[winterlily]

A really interesting read! Very beautiful writing, often more like poetry than prose however. Though the plot isn’t particularly active (which I’ve heard many complaints about) I feel like there’s enough interweaving and exploration going on to keep it interesting and touching

[Bianca]

It's true that, in Vietnamese, we rarely say I love you, and when we do, it is almost always in English. Care and love, for us, are pronounced clearest through service: plucking white hairs, pressing yourself on your son to absorb a plane's turbulence and, therefore, his fear. Or now—as Lan called to me, "Little Dog, get over here and help me help your mother." And we knelt on each side of you, rolling out the hardened cords in your upper arms, then down to your wrists, your fingers. For a moment almost too brief to matter, this made sense—that three people on the floor connected to each other by touch, made something like the word family.

Beautiful prose, no doubt. But for a personal story, I felt like the writing was way too flashy. Maybe it’s my personal preference, but I like books that can be raw and vulnerable without having to use so much grandeur in its prose. And it just felt really disjointed and felt like a compilation of short stories instead of a novel. I really tried to like this and give it more stars, but I just didn’t have the heart to. I liked some passages, but the book as a whole honestly didn’t really move me.

[jamiereadthis]

Some books aren’t so much reading as they are listening to what the author is putting on the page. This was gorgeous and painful and gorgeous.