On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

 

Ocean Vuong offers to the reader three generations' worth of powerful stories and memories of a grandmother who emigrated to America from Viet Nam after surviving the war, a mother who works past exhaustion to support her family, and son who is the first of his family to speak fluent English.

Vuong's debut novel is told as a letter to his mother, in fragmented, non-linear vignettes that start out with a solid memory or story and transform into prose, showcasing Vuong's background in poetry and his skill with the written word. Interwoven throughout is the coming-of-age story of two teenage boys, an immigrant farmhand and a farmer's grandson, who are attracted to each other and form an emotional and physical attachment. Their relationship is told with a detailed realism that is simultaneously engaging and uncomfortable in its forthrightness. This writing exposes with skill and honesty the agonies of abuse, addiction, grief, poverty, trauma, and otherness in raw, powerful, and beautiful words. The novel is haunting, heartbreaking, and pushes the boundaries of the form.