“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” Review
Written with stunning grace and mastery of language, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is an auto-fictional novel by Ocean Vuong, structured as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. It tells the intimate story of the protagonist, often referred to as ‘Little Dog’, and his experience growing up as the son of a Vietnamese immigrant in Hartford, Connecticut. Little Dog recounts his childhood growing up in the back rooms of nail salons, at which his mother worked for hours upon hours to support her family, and explores his mother and grandmother’s past in Vietnam, as well as their early days in Hartford. The letter is a devastatingly beautiful narrative of a family that has survived harrowing experiences, experiences which the narrator struggles to deconstruct and heal from through his writing. This writing is what allows the narrator to process the trauma stemming from various aspects of his life; the abuse he suffers from his deeply loving but mentally ill mother, the cruel bullying from his classmates and the intergenerational trauma he sees within his own family.
Impact on the reader
Vuong’s writing is haunting, filled with heartrending moments which leave the reader aching for the characters. We hear of the time Little Dog’s mother, Rose, drove him and his grandmother Lan to what she believed to be her sister’s house in an attempt to save her from her abusive husband, only to find upon bashing the door with a machete that her sister had moved to Florida five years before. We witness the bullying Little Dog fought against for so much of his childhood through his recollection of a classmate yelling, “Stop following me, you freak!”, to him on the school playground. With the narrator, we explore the complexity of his relationship with his mother, who poured her heart into building a future for him while simultaneously abusing him throughout his childhood. We hear from Little Dog’s grandmother Lan, who tells him the story of how she left her arranged marriage and became a sex worker for American GIs. The piercing vulnerability and humanity of Vuong’s characters leave the reader grieving for each of them, while fiercely admiring their ability to overcome hardship. There is an impactful rawness to Vuong’s writing, brimming with stimulating metaphors and striking imagery, that immerses the reader in the narrator’s story in a way few books can do, striking a chord of empathy and provoking critical thinking.
Themes
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous explores several profound themes, including the multiple dimensions of sexuality, the immense (though often limiting) power of language, and the importance of memory. Through the narrator’s heartbreaking recollection of his relationship with a white teenage boy named Trevor, who he meets while working on a tobacco farm, he explores the complexity of love and sexuality, while also touching upon themes of substance abuse and masculinity. Language plays an integral role in Vuong’s identity, allowing him to work through his trauma, though it also acts as a barrier. At times, a divide exists between Little Dog’s mother and him as a result of the fight between two languages; the narrator recalls a time when he and his mother observe a hummingbird, but while Rose exclaims, “Ðẹp quá!”, Little Dog exclaims, “It’s beautiful!” in English. The two then smile stiffly, hyper-aware of the lack of understanding both are experiencing. Language’s simultaneous power as a means of communication and weakness as a source of division are expertly explored throughout this novel, among other profound themes.
Vuong beautifully explores intense themes throughout On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, showing an exquisite command of language, which often leaves the reader simultaneously breathless and flooded with thought. It is a heart-wrenching exploration of identity and a family’s fractured narrative, whose exquisite quality of writing and staggering examination of complex themes make it one of the most influential debut novels of recent years.