Contemporary Fiction: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Young adult author Jeff Zentner (The Serpent King; Goodbye Days; Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee) gave a shot out on Twitter to Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and that was enough for me to add it to my list. Written as a letter from a son to a mother, it will tell of events from even before his lifetime, offering surprising revelations and heartbreaking truths.

The Situation: The narrator, who the reader will only know as Little Dog, though he insists he has had many names, grew up with his single mother and grandmother in Hartford, Connecticut. Now in his twenties, Little Dog has decided to write a letter to his mother, even though he knows she cannot read English. This letter will contain not only a history of the mother and son, but also of what happened in Vietnam, during the war. Jumping back and forth through time, Little Dog will tell his story, his mother's story, and even his grandmother's story, with everything leading up to how they all got here. He will recall days spent with his mother at the nail salon she worked at; his job at a local tobacco farm where he will meet a boy who will upend his world; even the time he spent with the man he knows as his grandfather. But his mother remains at the center of the story, the focus of a troubled history.

The Problem: As a young boy, being Vietnamese was enough of a reason for the other boys to pick on him. It also did not help that Little Dog's English was not that great. And then there was the time he was seen wearing one of his mother's dresses, and another time when the bike he bought for himself was bright pink. But being picked on by the other children was not Little Dog's primary concern. On given any day, at any given moment, his mother could turn on him, offering severe forms of physical abuse that would sometimes cause his grandmother to attempt to shield him. During one attempt at running away from home, it would be Grandma Lan who would call him back, while also acknowledging that her daughter is incredibly sick. If small, everyday transgressions could cause his mother to snap, what would she do if she learned how he felt about boys? Ultimately, Little Dog wants to tell this story, and wants his mother to hear it.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction novel that is more or less set in and around modern day Hartford, Connecticut. As the only child of a Vietnamese immigrant, Little Dog will learn to navigate America's northeastern seaboard, while also learning to navigate his mother's moods. Her earlier life in war-torn Vietnam has left behind enough trauma that she lets it spill out and onto her son. It is with the aid of his grandmother that he will learn to survive life with his mother. And it is his later interactions with a boy on a tobacco farm that will introduce Little Dog to the hard reality of drugs and addiction. Jumping easily from past to present to future, sometimes all within the same paragraph, Little Dog leaves no part of his short life unexplored. And while he knows his mother cannot read, he still insists on writing the letter, seemingly in a vain hope that she will finally hear him and see him. But what does it mean to insist on communicating with someone in a way in which you know they will never get the message? 

My Verdict: I wanted to like this book more, but alas, I felt only slightly more than 'meh' about it. It is indeed beautifully written, and an open and honest look at a young boy's life with his mother. And it could possibly be my aversion and lack of experience with poetry that hindered my overall enjoyment of the book, but some things did not connect for me. Again, the book is well-written, and I do not feel like there was something Vuong was missing or leaving out. If anything, the author should be praised for how much he manages to explore in less than 300 pages. It could be that the book just isn't for me, but I am sure there are many others who will connect with it. 

Favorite Moment: It is actually hard for me to pinpoint one moment that was my favorite. Maybe it was the narrative style, but no one part of the book really stands out for me.

Favorite Character: Grandma Lan is both nurturing and tough, managing to provide some level of stability in Little Dog's life.

Recommended Reading: Shelter by Jung Yun also explores the complicated relationship between a son and his abusive parents.