Items related to On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Synopsis
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 epicentre 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 the American moment, immersed as it is 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.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Search results for On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Seller Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Seller: WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Seller Inventory # rev7872434835
Buy Used
US$ 3.54
US$ 7.91 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 2 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Published by
Vintage Publishing, United Kingdom, London, 2019
ISBN 10: 1787331504
ISBN 13: 9781787331501
Used
Paperback
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. **THE SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER****WINNER OF THE MARK TWAIN AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE AWARD 2020** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2020**Brilliant, heart-breaking, 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 epicentre 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 the American moment, immersed as it is 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.**A FINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD 2020**This romantic, lusciously written debut lingers over kisses The TimesSo very full of beauty and power. Also, grace Tommy Orange, ObserverA magical synthesis of memoir, fiction and poetry Joyce Carol Oates, TLS. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR009833762
Buy Used
US$ 4.10
US$ 7.42 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 2 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous : A Novel
Seller: Better World Books Ltd, Dunfermline, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 39603633-20
Buy Used
US$ 6.58
US$ 6.63 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Seller: medimops, Berlin, Germany
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: good. Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M01787331504-G
Buy Used
US$ 12.00
US$ 11.37 shipping
Ships from Germany to U.S.A.
Ships from Germany to U.S.A.
Quantity: 4 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Seller: medimops, Berlin, Germany
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: very good. Gut/Very good: Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit wenigen Gebrauchsspuren an Einband, Schutzumschlag oder Seiten. / Describes a book or dust jacket that does show some signs of wear on either the binding, dust jacket or pages. Seller Inventory # M01787331504-V
Buy Used
US$ 12.47
US$ 11.37 shipping
Ships from Germany to U.S.A.
Ships from Germany to U.S.A.
Quantity: 5 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Seller: Majestic Books, Hounslow, United Kingdom
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 371055804
Buy New
US$ 15.39
US$ 8.62 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 4 available
Seller Image
On Earth Were Briefly Gorgeous
Seller: Crappy Old Books, Barry, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardback. Condition: Good. On Earth We?re Briefly Gorgeous (2019) by Ocean Vuong ? Jonathan Cape Some novels begin with a murder, a mysterious inheritance or somebody arriving at a country house in suspicious weather. Ocean Vuong begins with a letter to a mother who cannot read it. Which rather efficiently tells you that On Earth We?re Briefly Gorgeous is not planning to be straightforward. Published by Jonathan Cape in 2019, Vuong?s debut novel is written as a letter from a young man known as Little Dog to his Vietnamese mother, Rose. Through that letter he attempts to explain himself, his family and the complicated history that brought them from Vietnam to America ? knowing all the while that the person he is addressing may never actually read the words. It is an unusual structure for a novel, but an extraordinarily effective one. Memory moves backwards and forwards. Childhood scenes sit beside family history, love, violence, migration, sexuality, addiction and the lingering consequences of the Vietnam War. The result feels less like someone calmly telling you their life story and more like opening a drawer full of photographs, letters and things nobody quite knew what to do with. Little Dog grows up in a working-class immigrant household in Connecticut, surrounded by women whose lives have been shaped by war and displacement. His grandmother carries memories of Vietnam; his mother carries trauma of her own; and he gradually begins trying to understand not only where his family came from, but what has been passed down to him without anybody necessarily intending it. Then there is Trevor. Their relationship introduces tenderness, desire and first love into a world where tenderness frequently has to negotiate with masculinity, poverty, drugs and the generally unfortunate human habit of making beautiful things unnecessarily difficult. Vuong was already known as a poet before writing this novel, and it shows. The prose can be lyrical, fragmented and intensely observant, capable of lingering over a tiny physical detail before suddenly opening into a much larger thought about memory, language or loss. This does mean it is not the sort of book to read while simultaneously checking the football scores and wondering whether the oven has finished preheating. It occasionally demands attention. Annoying, really. There is also a great deal here about language itself: what happens when children become more fluent in a new country than their parents, what cannot easily be translated, and how families communicate through actions, silences and arguments when words prove inadequate. The title is wonderfully characteristic of the book. Life is temporary. Beauty is temporary. Love is temporary. Apparently everything is temporary, which is a slightly inconvenient philosophical conclusion for anyone currently trying to organise a pension. Yet the novel is not simply bleak. Its sadness sits beside humour, intimacy, beauty and the stubborn survival of people who have already endured more history than seems entirely fair. It is a book about being Vietnamese-American, gay, working-class, a son, a grandson, a lover and a writer ? but also about the larger question of how anyone turns the chaotic material of a life into a story that can be understood. This copy is in Good condition , making it an excellent reading copy of one of the most discussed literary debuts of recent years. Ideal for readers of contemporary literary fiction, family sagas, immigrant narratives, LGBTQ+ fiction and novels in which the sentences sometimes deserve to be read twice simply because the author has gone to the trouble of making them unusually good. Sold by Crappy Old Books , where life may be brief, beauty may be fleeting, but somehow the piles of books remain permanently in the way. ISBN: 9781787331501 Condition: Good THIS BOOK BEARS THE CRAPPY OLD BOOKS STAMP. IF THAT IS UNDESIRABLE PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS. THE STAMP MARKS WHICH IS USUALLY TO THE FRONT AND BACK INNER PAGES SAYS SOLD BY CRAPPY OLD B. Seller Inventory # 7505
Buy Used
US$ 1.02
US$ 26.57 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS
Seller: Basi6 International, Irving, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Brand New. New. US edition. Expediting shipping for all USA and Europe orders excluding PO Box. Excellent Customer Service. Seller Inventory # ABEOCT25-345939
Seller Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous >>>> A SUPERB SIGNED & NUMBERED LIMITED UK FIRST EDITION & FIRST PRINTING HARDBACK + SPRAYED EDGES <<<
Published by
Jonathan Cape, London, 2019
ISBN 10: 1787331504
ISBN 13: 9781787331501
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Zeitgeist Books, Middlesex, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. A fine UK first edition, first printing hardback in a fine unclipped dustjacket - All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days) - SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR - ONE OF 750 NUMBERED COPIES - Pictures of the book are available upon request. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 013583
Buy Used
US$ 129.69
US$ 26.51 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Signed Lined & Dated UK 1st ed 1st Print HB
Published by
Jonathan Cape, 2019
ISBN 10: 1787331504
ISBN 13: 9781787331501
New
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Clearbury Books, Salisbury, WILTS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. A new signed UK 1st Ed. 1st Print Hardback. Signed lined & dated by the author to the title page. Free from inscriptions. Fine & unread. No pushing to spines. No knocks to corners. Dust Jacket fine, (not price clipped), now covered in removable clear protective film. All books sold by me are posted well packed with bubble wrap inside a cardboard book box. A scarce lined UK 1st print HB. Prompt dispatch within 2-3 days. Photographs available upon request. Any questions please contact me. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # ABE-1711543957543
Buy New
US$ 170.65
US$ 33.14 shipping
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Quantity: 1 available