On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

A Novel

hardcover, 256 pages

Published June 3, 2019 by Penguin Press.

ISBN:
978-0-525-56202-3
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3 stars (1 review)

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 …

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Review of "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Hard to follow and I found the imagery a mess. I kept waiting for the next chapter to tie it all together but for me it never seemed to. Every second it third paragraph was compelling enough for me to keep reading but I have no desire to continue.
Rating it 3/5 for the couple of laughs and tearful moments I felt actually hit and the point of view of a PoC that I haven't experienced.