On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel / Ocean Vuong.
"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 amother 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"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780525562023
- ISBN: 0525562028
- Physical Description: 246 pages ; 22 cm
- Publisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2019.
Content descriptions
Awards Note: | PEN America Literary Award Finalist, 2020 |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Mothers and sons > Fiction. Discrimination > Fiction. Vietnamese Americans > Fiction. |
Genre: | Epistolary fiction. |
Available copies
- 40 of 40 copies available at Missouri Evergreen.
- 2 of 2 copies available at Trails Regional. (Show)
- 0 of 0 copies available at Trails Regional-Technical Services.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 40 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adair County Public Library | A F Vuong (Text) | 34029002465689 | Fiction | Available | - |
Barry Lawrence - Cassville Library | FIC VUO (Text) | 37884102984923 | Fiction | Available | - |
Barry Lawrence - Mt. Vernon Library | FIC VUO (Text) | 37884102984931 | Fiction | Available | - |
Cape Girardeau Public Library | VUO (Text) | 33042004623222 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Carthage Public Library | FIC Vuong, Ocean (Text) | 34MO2001804323 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Caruthersville Public Library | F VUO (Text) | 38417100424581 | Fiction | Available | - |
Cass County Library-Harrisonville | F VUO 2019 (Text) | 0002205832039 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Cedar County - El Dorado Springs | FIC VUO (Text) | 3482700049918 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Cedar County - Stockton | FIC VUO (Text) | 3482700049762 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Crawford County Library-Recklein Memorial-Cuba | 813.6 VUO (Text) | 33431000551893 | Adult Non-Fiction | Available | - |
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous : A Novel
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Summary
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous : A Novel
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 "A lyrical work of self-discovery that's shockingly intimate and insistently universal...Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post "This is one of the best novels I've ever read...Ocean Vuong is a master. This book a masterpiece."--Tommy Orange, author of There There and Wandering Stars 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. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years. Named a Best Book of the Year by: GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME , Esquire, The Washington Post , Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker , The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian , The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly , Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, and more!