On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
On This Page
Description
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 show more 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. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
The narrator, Little Dog, doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable parts of life: his, his friend's, his mother's. He also doesn't shy away from the beautiful parts of those same lives: it goes together, the beautiful and the uncomfortable.
The novel is imagist more than event-centred, a portrait of Little Dog's place in community and family. While there is a story, the pieces are told separately and lovingly gathered together, some not quite fitting with the others, hovering around the edges like a jigsaw puzzle partway assembled. In the end the picture comes clear, how each piece fits in with the others, and also separates from them, the corners and curves not quite matching. Maybe they matched better, at one time, and maybe some never show more did fit comfortably with the others. So a story, but more character driven than plot driven, with our understanding unfolding more than events being revealed or leading to an end.
It is tempting to read it as autobiographical. It's unclear how much is Vuong's intention, this invitation to map specifics from his novel to details of his life story, and how much that broad suggestion is lazy marketing. I tried to remind myself regularly, Vuong never says he is Little Dog. Though listening to some interviews (On Being pod, others), the parallels are clear between certain features of his life and Little Dog's life. Still, an author writing from personal experience is not the same as writing an autobiography. I hesitate to draw any conclusions about the meaning of the book as biography, or to make assumptions about Vuong's life based on the book. show less
The novel is imagist more than event-centred, a portrait of Little Dog's place in community and family. While there is a story, the pieces are told separately and lovingly gathered together, some not quite fitting with the others, hovering around the edges like a jigsaw puzzle partway assembled. In the end the picture comes clear, how each piece fits in with the others, and also separates from them, the corners and curves not quite matching. Maybe they matched better, at one time, and maybe some never show more did fit comfortably with the others. So a story, but more character driven than plot driven, with our understanding unfolding more than events being revealed or leading to an end.
It is tempting to read it as autobiographical. It's unclear how much is Vuong's intention, this invitation to map specifics from his novel to details of his life story, and how much that broad suggestion is lazy marketing. I tried to remind myself regularly, Vuong never says he is Little Dog. Though listening to some interviews (On Being pod, others), the parallels are clear between certain features of his life and Little Dog's life. Still, an author writing from personal experience is not the same as writing an autobiography. I hesitate to draw any conclusions about the meaning of the book as biography, or to make assumptions about Vuong's life based on the book. show less
When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?
A beautiful, intimate look at lives lived despite violence. So intimate that I felt intrusive many times just reading it. Memory is so fickle, and yet so potentially destructive. Memory is also, as what the narrator called it, a second chance, one which we have the power to control, if only for ourselves, if only in our minds.
How rarely we are encouraged to pause and reflect on what has happened to us. How scarcely we are given space to check ourselves for damages as the storm continues on. Maybe I should take heed and take stock of my life while in this enforced pause.
A beautiful, intimate look at lives lived despite violence. So intimate that I felt intrusive many times just reading it. Memory is so fickle, and yet so potentially destructive. Memory is also, as what the narrator called it, a second chance, one which we have the power to control, if only for ourselves, if only in our minds.
How rarely we are encouraged to pause and reflect on what has happened to us. How scarcely we are given space to check ourselves for damages as the storm continues on. Maybe I should take heed and take stock of my life while in this enforced pause.
Ein Sohn schreibt an seine Mutter, berichtet ihr all das, wofür immer die Worte gefehlt haben. Geboren in Vietnam kommt er als kleiner Junge mit seiner Mutter Rose und Großmutter Lan in die USA. Den Gedanken an die Realisierung des American Dream geben sie bald auf und fügen sich dem Schicksal der Landsleute: seine Mutter schuftet in einem Nagelstudio und unterwirft sich tagein tagaus den herrschaftlichen weißen Damen. Der Junge erlebt in der Schule Diskriminierung und Hass, als er sich seiner homosexuellen Tendenzen Gewahr wird, wird dies nicht einfacher. Doch in Trevor findet er seinen ersten richtigen Freund, erlebt Liebe und Sexualität und all das immer in einer Zwischenwelt zwischen dem verlassenen Heimatland und der neuen show more Heimat, wo die Familie jedoch nie gänzlich ankommt. Es wird viele Jahre dauern, bis der schüchterne Junge die Worte findet, um sein Inneres nach außen zu tragen und sich mitzuteilen.
Immer wenn ein Roman überbordend bejubelt wird, weckt das zwei gegensätzliche Gefühle: Neugier und Abwehr. Warum stürzen sich alle Kritiker und Leser mit Begeisterung auf das Werk und erheben den Autor zum neuen Stern am Literaturhimmel? Um so vielen zu gefallen, wird womöglich doch wieder mit Versatzstücken und einem gefälligen Schema gearbeitet, will man das dann wirklich lesen? Im Falle von Ocean Vuongs Debut ist mein Urteil eindeutig: ich reihe mich ein in die Schar der Jubelrufer, denn jede Minute des Lesens war ein Genuss wie auch ein Gewinn, denn nicht nur hat der Autor sehr eindrucksvolle Worte gefunden, die noch nach dem Ende nachhallen, obendrein ermöglicht er auch einen kurzen Blick hinter weitgehend verschlossene Türen asiatischer Einwanderer.
Vuong beschreibt eine schwierige coming-of-age Geschichte eines jungen Vietnamesen. Vieles basiert auf seinen eigenen Erfahrungen, auch wenn die Figuren, wie er in einem Interview sagt, aus vielerlei Menschen aus seiner Kindheit und Jugend zusammengesetzt sind. Es ist eine typische Einwanderergeschichte mit großen Träumen, die zerplatzen, vom plötzlichen Entdecken der eigenen Hautfarbe, die vorher weder wahrgenommen noch eine Rolle gespielt hat und jetzt zum entscheidenden Distinktionsmerkmal wird. Es sind Geheimnisse in der Familie, Lebensläufe, die über Jahrzehnte aus blinden Flecken bestehen, weil die Zeiten zu unsagbarem Handeln zwangen.
Gewalt spielt gleich in mehreren Facetten eine Rolle, die psychische, die der Junge in der Schule durch Mobbing, aber auch durch heftige Übergriffe erlebt, genauso aber kommt sie auch im Elternhaus vor; bis er sich als Teenager mutig gegen die Mutter stellt, sind Schläge von ihr ein normaler Teil des Familienlebens und der Erziehung. Liebe drückt sich in der Familie nicht durch Worte aus, die fehlen immer, ihm die vietnamesischen, der Mutter die englischen, es sind die Gesten, die die Verbundenheit verdeutlichen. Ähnlich auch mit Trevor, mit dem er intensive Zeiten erlebt, im guten wie im schlechten Sinne.
Das Geschichtenerzählen nimmt in seiner Familie und im Roman einen wesentlichen Raum ein. Vor allem die Großmutter verbringt Stunden damit, ihm die alten Sagen und ihre eigenen Erlebnisse zu schildern. So entsteht eine Liebe für das Wort und das Erzählen, in einem Umfeld von Analphabeten in einem Land mit einer fremden Sprache. Doch gerade deshalb findet Vuong zu seiner Sprache, der man die Poesie des Vietnamesischen, das so anders funktioniert wie die indoeuropäischen Sprachen, anmerkt. Wo die Worte fehlen, dominieren andere Sinneseindrücke und die finden nun den Weg in die Sprache – Farbe, Gerüche, alles schildert der junge Autor mit einer ganz eigenen Intensität, für die er den Platz am literarischen Sternenhimmel ganz ohne Frage verdient hat. show less
Immer wenn ein Roman überbordend bejubelt wird, weckt das zwei gegensätzliche Gefühle: Neugier und Abwehr. Warum stürzen sich alle Kritiker und Leser mit Begeisterung auf das Werk und erheben den Autor zum neuen Stern am Literaturhimmel? Um so vielen zu gefallen, wird womöglich doch wieder mit Versatzstücken und einem gefälligen Schema gearbeitet, will man das dann wirklich lesen? Im Falle von Ocean Vuongs Debut ist mein Urteil eindeutig: ich reihe mich ein in die Schar der Jubelrufer, denn jede Minute des Lesens war ein Genuss wie auch ein Gewinn, denn nicht nur hat der Autor sehr eindrucksvolle Worte gefunden, die noch nach dem Ende nachhallen, obendrein ermöglicht er auch einen kurzen Blick hinter weitgehend verschlossene Türen asiatischer Einwanderer.
Vuong beschreibt eine schwierige coming-of-age Geschichte eines jungen Vietnamesen. Vieles basiert auf seinen eigenen Erfahrungen, auch wenn die Figuren, wie er in einem Interview sagt, aus vielerlei Menschen aus seiner Kindheit und Jugend zusammengesetzt sind. Es ist eine typische Einwanderergeschichte mit großen Träumen, die zerplatzen, vom plötzlichen Entdecken der eigenen Hautfarbe, die vorher weder wahrgenommen noch eine Rolle gespielt hat und jetzt zum entscheidenden Distinktionsmerkmal wird. Es sind Geheimnisse in der Familie, Lebensläufe, die über Jahrzehnte aus blinden Flecken bestehen, weil die Zeiten zu unsagbarem Handeln zwangen.
Gewalt spielt gleich in mehreren Facetten eine Rolle, die psychische, die der Junge in der Schule durch Mobbing, aber auch durch heftige Übergriffe erlebt, genauso aber kommt sie auch im Elternhaus vor; bis er sich als Teenager mutig gegen die Mutter stellt, sind Schläge von ihr ein normaler Teil des Familienlebens und der Erziehung. Liebe drückt sich in der Familie nicht durch Worte aus, die fehlen immer, ihm die vietnamesischen, der Mutter die englischen, es sind die Gesten, die die Verbundenheit verdeutlichen. Ähnlich auch mit Trevor, mit dem er intensive Zeiten erlebt, im guten wie im schlechten Sinne.
Das Geschichtenerzählen nimmt in seiner Familie und im Roman einen wesentlichen Raum ein. Vor allem die Großmutter verbringt Stunden damit, ihm die alten Sagen und ihre eigenen Erlebnisse zu schildern. So entsteht eine Liebe für das Wort und das Erzählen, in einem Umfeld von Analphabeten in einem Land mit einer fremden Sprache. Doch gerade deshalb findet Vuong zu seiner Sprache, der man die Poesie des Vietnamesischen, das so anders funktioniert wie die indoeuropäischen Sprachen, anmerkt. Wo die Worte fehlen, dominieren andere Sinneseindrücke und die finden nun den Weg in die Sprache – Farbe, Gerüche, alles schildert der junge Autor mit einer ganz eigenen Intensität, für die er den Platz am literarischen Sternenhimmel ganz ohne Frage verdient hat. show less
Stunning, I think
Our narrator is writing a letter to his illiterate mother.
”…the very impossibility of your reading this is all that makes my telling it possible.”
This novel is a flow of words that is both poetry and prose. It doesn’t invite you in, it engulfs you, holds you firmly, doesn’t let go.
There is a childhood: with magic that only children know and grandma’s stories; this is welded together with child abuse, poverty, and a family that carries war and their tragedies inside them, always. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that paints the immigrant experience and being Vietnamese in the USA so very vividly.
There is an adolescence: the seeking, the confusion, drugs, first love, and heartbreak. The sexuality show more is very graphic, and rightly so.
This book left my soul battered. I am grateful.
Quotes:
”He was only nine but had already mastered the dialect of damaged American fathers.”
”Ma, to speak in our mother tongue is to speak only partially in Vietnamese, but entirely in war.”
”Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you’d know it’s a flood.”
”The one good thing about national anthems is that we’re already on our feet, and therefore ready to run.” show less
Our narrator is writing a letter to his illiterate mother.
”…the very impossibility of your reading this is all that makes my telling it possible.”
This novel is a flow of words that is both poetry and prose. It doesn’t invite you in, it engulfs you, holds you firmly, doesn’t let go.
There is a childhood: with magic that only children know and grandma’s stories; this is welded together with child abuse, poverty, and a family that carries war and their tragedies inside them, always. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that paints the immigrant experience and being Vietnamese in the USA so very vividly.
There is an adolescence: the seeking, the confusion, drugs, first love, and heartbreak. The sexuality show more is very graphic, and rightly so.
This book left my soul battered. I am grateful.
Quotes:
”He was only nine but had already mastered the dialect of damaged American fathers.”
”Ma, to speak in our mother tongue is to speak only partially in Vietnamese, but entirely in war.”
”Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you’d know it’s a flood.”
”The one good thing about national anthems is that we’re already on our feet, and therefore ready to run.” show less
This is a stunningly beautiful work on every level. If Vuong's captivating prose doesn't "connect" with you on some level, check for a pulse. The saga of Little Dog, as told through a letter he writes to his mom, is a compelling page-turner. True, I got a bit lost for several pages when a Tiger Woods anecdote that was described by NPR as "an extended riff" was woven into the narrative. But I can say this without hesitation: "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" is one of the five best books I've read in the past few years.
Pick it up. Put it down. Pick it up. Put it down. Not because it’s hard to read. Not because it’s uninteresting. Quite the contrary: I cannot recall reading a book so beautifully written yet so hard to read. The best word I have to describe it is “raw.” Painful. Sensitive. Brittle. Emotionally (and in other ways) graphic. Pick it up. The intensity is so overwhelming that one page, maybe two pages later I have to put it down again. Over and over. I marvel at his talent for writing; I am astonished at his depiction of human emotion, his gift for images. The racism; child abuse; sex; the love…for his mother, his grandmother, his boyfriend. Cages. Poverty. Otherness. Pain. Always pain. All of it so open, so raw that it bleeds on show more the page. Vuong’s metaphors are often completely unexpected and all the more perfect for that. There is little in the book, no matter how apparently unrelated, that he does not connect and illuminate. All that said, the book is not without flaws. There is a level of self-indulgence, self-awareness that I sometimes couldn’t quite accept occasionally. And yet the power of the writing is so undeniable that I simply cannot help but rate the book highly and recommend it. show less
it's rare that i read a book at what feels like the wrong time. when i started this one, i don't think it was the right time but by the time i got to the end it was. i'm already looking forward to reading it again, so that i can better experience that first half or so, which wasn't as smooth for me as i think it will be next time.
his sense of ... well, basically everything, really ... is expert level. the way he interweaves so many little motifs and notes and stories and words is gorgeous and impressive. there were parts of this that i didn't fully understand as i read them, but that became clear later. there were parts of this that added depth to sections that i'd already enjoyed and moved past. his language, his stories, the way he show more brought in so many other things that all reflect and tie in to what he's saying about his life, his mother's life, his grandmother's life. the way his grandmother is a bridge between him and his mother (as opposed to his mother being a bridge between him and his grandmother, like we'd normally see in literature). the way he describes being othered. the way he describes being himself.
this is so good. i know i didn't appreciate it as much this time around as i will next time, and i really liked it this time.
so many lines to highlight, but here's the crux of it, for this read through: "They will want you to succeed, but never more than them." show less
his sense of ... well, basically everything, really ... is expert level. the way he interweaves so many little motifs and notes and stories and words is gorgeous and impressive. there were parts of this that i didn't fully understand as i read them, but that became clear later. there were parts of this that added depth to sections that i'd already enjoyed and moved past. his language, his stories, the way he show more brought in so many other things that all reflect and tie in to what he's saying about his life, his mother's life, his grandmother's life. the way his grandmother is a bridge between him and his mother (as opposed to his mother being a bridge between him and his grandmother, like we'd normally see in literature). the way he describes being othered. the way he describes being himself.
this is so good. i know i didn't appreciate it as much this time around as i will next time, and i really liked it this time.
so many lines to highlight, but here's the crux of it, for this read through: "They will want you to succeed, but never more than them." show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
2020 Tournament of Books
18 works; 18 members
Best Contemporary Literary Fiction (Around the Last 30 Years)
388 works; 122 members
Best 21st Century Books (So Far)
670 works; 85 members
Recommend the 20 best books you've read in the last five years
2,168 works; 606 members
Great American Novels
158 works; 40 members
Top Five Books of 2020
982 works; 348 members
Favourite Books
1,817 works; 316 members
2020 Notable Books for Adults
26 works; 5 members
New England Books
101 works; 10 members
Top Five Books of 2019
387 works; 108 members
LibraryThingers' 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
442 works; 30 members
Best LGBT Fiction
144 works; 25 members
Kirkus Starred Fiction Reviews of Books Published in 2019
411 works; 12 members
Phi Beta Kappa reading list
260 works; 8 members
Facebook list
55 works; 3 members
Indie Next Picks
196 works; 4 members
Books Read in 2023
5,547 works; 145 members
Sad Queer Stories
18 works; 1 member
Books Read in 2020
4,379 works; 124 members
Favorite Books from the 2010s
75 works; 3 members
Good LGBT fiction for LGBT folk and friends
537 works; 54 members
Novels featuring Mothers
64 works; 8 members
NYT Readers best of 21st C
100 works; 8 members
Still to Read 2020
8 works; 1 member
Not the NYT list of top 100 21st century books
100 works; 6 members
Fiction: Asia
85 works; 2 members
Widely acclaimed, one book per year
105 works; 3 members
Books Read in 2025
4,091 works; 97 members
Top Five Books of 2023
767 works; 317 members
Top Five Books of 2025
954 works; 303 members
Totally Biased List of Tookie’s Favorite Books
10 works; 1 member
Books Read in 2019
4,052 works; 108 members
Your favorite 20 fiction books PUBLISHED in the last five years
20 works; 1 member
AP Lit
363 works; 6 members
Asian American Literature
46 works; 6 members
2010s
241 works; 3 members
To Read
617 works; 7 members
Penguin Random House
458 works; 4 members
Books Read in 2021
5,361 works; 113 members
BookTok Adult
115 works; 2 members
High School Novels about Immigration
40 works; 1 member
Global Reads: Books Set in East Asia
139 works; 12 members
el
1,139 works; 1 member
Five star books
1,755 works; 108 members
Author Information
12+ Works 9,496 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- Original title
- On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- Original publication date
- 2019
- People/Characters
- Little Dog; Trevor; Rose; Lan
- Important places
- Vietnam; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut, USA
- Epigraph
- But let me see if—using these words as a little plot of
land and my life as a cornerstone—
I can build you a center.
—Qiu Miaojin
I want to tell you the truth, and already I have told you about the wide rivers.
—Joan Didion - Dedication
- For my mother
- First words
- Let me begin again.
- Quotations
- 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 it holds nothing. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it,... (show all) an inch away, just as hungry, as empty.
...the most useful thing one can do with empty hands is hold on. (p.76)
They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it. (p.176)
From the wind, I learned a syntax for forwardness, how to move through obstacles by wrapping myself around them. (p.185) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then, for no reason, you start to laugh.
- Blurbers
- James, Marlon; Lerner, Ben; Straub, Emma; Orange, Tommy; Ng, Celeste; Cunningham, Michael
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.6
- Canonical LCC
- PS3622.U96
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 6,012
- Popularity
- 2,111
- Reviews
- 182
- Rating
- (3.93)
- Languages
- 16 — Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 48
- ASINs
- 10