On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Autor: Ocean Vuong

Poetic and powerful exploration of family history, immigration, trauma, and identity. The novel takes the form of a long letter written by the protagonist, Little Dog (whose Vietnamese name is Little Tuấn), in his late twenties. The letter is addressed to his mother, Rose, an illiterate nail salon worker in Hartford, Connecticut, who will likely never be able to read it. The narrative weaves together past and present, revealing the brutal history of his family across three generations, starting from his grandmother Lan’s life in rural Vietnam during the war, to his mother’s harrowing immigration to the United States. The story details the struggles of their life in America: poverty, the effects of untreated PTSD and schizophrenia on his family members, the brutal conditions of the nail salon industry, and the language barrier that creates a constant chasm between mother and son.