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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
- Narrated by: Ocean Vuong
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
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Publisher's Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, written and read by Ocean Vuong.
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.
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2020**
**A FINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD 2020**
Critic Reviews
"Vuong is surely a literary descendant of the author of Leaves of Grass. Emerging from the most marginalized circumstances, he has produced a lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal... Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning." (Ron Charles)
"Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous confirms him as a master of inventive language that has its roots in the spoken word but reaches shimmering heights of lyricism, too." (Joseph O'Connor)
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What listeners say about On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucy
- 12-06-2020
Hovers between a dream and a nightmare
The novel is heavy with beautiful prose.. almost losing itself in dreamlike connections to nature.. brutal in parts, mixed with encounters of schizophrenia , brutality and images of post war assimilation(??) into the US.
I found it profoundly dark and disturbing and it deals with coming of age homosexuality ... not an easy listen, but often dreamlike and gentle and generous,..like the authors voice
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hayley
- 24-01-2022
Aarghhh
This book!
I loved it then I hated it then I tolerated it then I loved it then I deeply hated it then I just wanted it to end.
It’s a moving book that clearly takes you on an emotional journey, esp if you are a mother of a son, as I am. I wish the writer well and hope he finds his peace.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jessie Brautigan
- 29-11-2022
Incredible!
This painful, achingly beautiful text is simply delicious to listen to. Irresistible, raw, embodied. Magnificent!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- deb
- 25-08-2019
Sublime
Simply sublime
Thank you Ocean Vuong for this gift of beauty
Perfectly read of course by the writer himself
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Donna Greene
- 28-07-2021
Loved it!
I loved this book. I loved the powerful and poetic way in which Vuong tells his story. At times touching and at times disturbing but always rich, vivid and evocative. I highly recommend this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-10-2022
Poetic but bleak
narrator was absorbed but not absorbing and maybe that was the story which was very bleak
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dasha S
- 24-06-2021
Could do with a different narrator
Story is really interesting, however I found the narration painful to bear with after some time…
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 17-09-2022
beautiful
I absolutely loved this book. Stunning story telling and very profound thought provoking reading.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rafaela Padial
- 20-03-2023
Beautiful and shattering
Heartbreaking and poetic, this is truly one of the most beautiful stories I’ve read. Ocean’s portrayal of love and family, and the pain that accompanies each, is viscerally relatable.
Read it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-07-2023
Exquisitely beautiful
The best book I've listened to all year; beautifully poetic imagery, heart-rending and eye-opening narratives deftly interwoven that stay with you long after the book is finished. Could not recommend it more highly.
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