On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong

Book Overview

A New York Times bestseller - Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction - Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

"A lyrical work of self-discovery that's shockingly intimate and insistently universal...Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525562044
• ISBN13: 9780525562047
• Release Date: June 2021
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Wow.

I have never been so moved by a book before. Even reading this months ago I still think about it. Due to the nature of the topics, I think this would best suit older grades levels.

Survival

Layers of past and present are interleaved to create glimpses of backstory fanned out like a hand of cards. Cruelty, oppression, discovery, grandmother, mother, boy, and friend are poetically and candidly revealed.

Stunning meditation on love, pain and the duality of people.

This book is my favorite book and has inspired me as a person and a writer. Ocean Vuong's style of writing is enthralling and intellectual and makes you question the simplicity of the metaphor and the meaning of life all at once. It's simply a must read. How deep and delicate you feel when reading is incomparable. The story itself covers a broad range of ideas and topics but doesn't feel convoluted or overdone, but more true to what the chaos of life is. A wonderful story on the struggle of being an american immigrant, and queer man, and remembering the relationship between mother and son. I cannot recommend this book more.