Name: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Rating: 4.194890202702703 (1184 reviews)
ISBN: 9780593104293

Ocean  Vuong

A Novel

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Elsi C.

Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you've been ruined. 

Beatriz Salvador 

Celina Hoang Vo ♥︎

Júlia Bertoldi

ame 

Sara Vasilescu

Essence

kari <33

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, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty. Opening the front door to the first snowfall of my life, you whispered, "Look."

Celina Irena Kuhn

Fasiha🌺🐧

Sadie Hoffman

To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.

ayoni

Alma

Gertrud Sofie

Macy HB

Because freedom, I am told, is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey. 

selma

Syrina

ellie🤍

Steffi Colberg

kemi

zee ✨️

Deea <3

sage lynn

Because the sunset, like survival, exists only on the verge of its own disappearing. To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.

Sometimes you are erased before you are given the choice of stating who you are. 

mia sønderskov

i am writing you from inside a body that used to be yours. which is to say, i am writing as a son. 

fæ 

There is so much I want to tell you, Ma. I was once foolish enough to believe knowledge would clarify, but some things are so gauzed behind layers of syntax and semantics, behind days and hours, names forgotten, salvaged and shed, that simply knowing the wound exists does nothing to reveal it.

I don't know what I'm saying. I guess what I mean is that sometimes I don't know what or who we are. Days I feel like a human being, while other days I feel more like a sound. I touch the world not as myself but as an echo of who I was. Can you hear me yet? Can you read me?

maderinn⟢

Do you remember the happiest day of your life? What about the saddest? Do you ever wonder if sadness and happiness can be combined, to make a deep purple feeling, not good, not bad, but remarkable simply because you didn't have to live on one side or the other?

Cassandra Tang

Kaia Mann

Krystal

Celine

"Brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and highly original - poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a sweeping and shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to 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"--

Steph

** The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller ** Brilliant, heartbreaking and highly original, Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling. ‘A marvel’ MARLON JAMES 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. ‘A masterpiece’ MAX PORTER ‘Luminous, shattering, urgent, necessary’ CELESTE NG ‘Deeply moving... Little Dog’s story is the story of modern America’ Daily Telegraph ‘Vuong has originality running through his veins’ The Times SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2020 FINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD 2020

god. oh my god. it's a stare-at-a-wall feeling. like you've been turned inside out. 

 winds its way through queer love & immigrant identity in both beautiful & shockingly gruesome ways. please read it. these words should live inside people

p.s. the prose is quite heavy, so if that's not your style skip this one. but i loved it. 

vivi jin

god. oh my god. it's a stare-at-a-wall feeling. like you've been turned inside out. on earth we're briefly gorgeous winds its way through queer love & immigrant identity in both beautiful & shockingly gruesome ways. please read it. these words should live inside people

p.s. the prose is quite heavy, so if that's not your style skip this one. but i loved it. 

Tuğbanur Sürmeli

Liz Ngo

Ocean's novel was able to convey what it feels to be a queer first generation Vietnamese-American. In addition to so many other complex experiences. It was so beautifully written and tore at my heartstrings. It made me understand how <u>on earth, we are briefly gorgeous</u>.

Sindhujaw

A boy's letter to his mother who can't read!!<br />A brilliantly written book on thoughts of a boy and his family affected by the Vietnamese war. It's full of emotions—exploration, hope, love, and reflection. It's shattering 🖤

jade shen

Ocean Vuong schreibt einen Brief an seine Mutter, die Analphabetin ist. Er erzählt vom Erwachsenwerden als Kind traumatisierter Eltern, den Nachwirkungen des Vietnam-Kriegs in der Nachkriegsgeneration und von seiner ersten Liebe zu einem Mann. Sehr poetischer Schreibstil und viele Themen, die ich vorher nicht kannte, ein wunderschönes Buch!

Marlene 

I like how so many things got depicted here, from complexity of mother-child relationship to an internalized homophobia, it feels raw, it's complicated but it was wrapped with such a neat layers, so many layers, and worded with achingly beautiful prose. 

"Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood." 

And by any means this books surely does feel like you take a look at someone memories, back-and-forth, not in arranged manners, sometimes it's a glimpse and then it's over, out of nowhere here and there and sometimes the one that you willingly recalled.

I like how so many things got depicted here, from complexity of mother-child relationship to an internalized homophobia, it feels raw, it's complicated but it was wrapped with such a neat layers, so many layers, and worded with achingly beautiful prose. 

"Ma. You once told me that memory is a choice. But if you were god, you'd know it's a flood." 

And by any means this books surely does feel like you take a look at someone memories, back-and-forth, not in arranged manners, sometimes it's a glimpse and then it's over, out of nowhere here and there and sometimes the one that you willingly recalled.



wow yeah. just so hauntingly lyrical and beautiful, ive got so may notes on so many pages because the way ocean vuong writes is so marvellous. these letters feel so human so raw — it’s been a while since i felt so touched by writing i can’t feel. this is beautiful.

re-read this book while in the motherland and enjoyed its dense and visceral images. the desire to vindicate the world for your mother, yet protect yourself from her own personal storm. that your homeland is part of you, despite how much you try to distance yourself from it. that life persists despite grief and that you are everything even for a small moment!

kate 

“human eyes is god's loneliest creation. how much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing”.

intimate, raw, made me forget my feet were hurting (the highest compliment). I neeeeeed to read this on paper for I fear I did get lost sometimes in the audiobook but it was always a pleasant lost I just would like to see it on a page 

Jules 

Alisha

to be gorgeous you must be seen! i’ll remember this

petrina

I typically read fiction so this was a bit new for me but I loved the poetry style prose. Some of Vuong’s metaphors and story comparisons really hit hard. 

Brynn Sklar

vuong's writing is beautiful, wonderful prose. however, i felt like i struggled to fully immerse myself into the plot, i was thinking of giving up halfway as i felt like it was losing its pace and it was getting too stretched out, but i would still recommend this to anyone.

marceline

This book was a true delight the language was supple, the story giving just enough, and the emotional twists and turns hit deep. The pieces of Vietnamese culture and history sprinkled throughout also give the story its own shadow to give the story depth and deeper meaning that goes further than just the protagonist, his mother, grandmother, grandfather, and boyfriend. Ocean really builds a narrative that is engaging — if not a little meandering — but it makes up for itself in the emotional highlights and the skillful use of language. It's as if you have entered into someone else's stream of consciousness and get to see it through their eyes. Truly a gem that keeps on giving. 

BC Hark

Beautiful prose. Sad, sad, story. At times, a little too poetic for a novel. In fact, I'd say this is a novel for poets.

Katelyn Caillouet

Achingly beautiful, even in its most fleeting moments. One of the only books that has a last page that truly left me satiated. Although the writing felt like it was being stretched to its limits at times, Vuong’s beautiful prose can’t be denied.

Eris

vera ౨ৎ

This book contains a beautiful story outlining generational trauma, finding oneself, and racism. The hardships of Little Dog were poetic and artistically written resulting in an eye opening experience for the reader. I found that I wasnt the biggest fan of the more poetic sections as they were slightly confusing at times as to the where, what, and when, but overall this novel was short and sweet.

Anna

my pyrrhic victory involves successfully blinking back tears multiple times after deciding to read this book in public.

Shufei

i would like to write my parents esp. mamah a book too. as if im too coward to show my affection. but pls.. Ma.. Pa.. be my parents again someday. 

didn’t enjoy this as much as i thought i would… the barthes example-observation influence doesn’t really flow well with ocean vuong’s prose style - it just ends up being corny. no strong sense of character which makes me less engaged. its very sad and beautifully written though

Patricia K

didn’t enjoy this as much as i thought i would… the barthes example-observation influence doesn’t really flow well with ocean vuong’s prose style - it just ends up being corny. no strong sense of character which makes me less engaged. its very sad and beautifully written though

borrowed, lerry’s copy

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous A Novel

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