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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)
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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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ankit Sharma
- 27-05-22
beautiful book
completely fictional but a good read surely, the best part is it makes you visualize as if you are actually part of the story
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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
- rubal
- 29-07-20
Pure Poetry
The most beautiful story I have read this year. I have read it before but couldn't resist listening to Ocean and going through this beautiful narration the second 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
- Richa Sharma
- 06-01-22
Beautiful story and beautiful narration
This was such a heart touching and heart wrenching story. Beautiful narration by the author himself.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Pinky Sampang
- 16-06-24
Poetic
I fell in love with the book while reading, I fell harder when I listened to the audiobook.
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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
- clarence roberts
- 06-04-24
Narration keeps you gripped to every word
Ocean gives a mesmerising performance while narrating an insanely personal and vulnerable story of his life . This is already my favourite audiobook I’ve ever listened to .
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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
- Sarmistha Bit
- 02-02-23
A story that will move you to tears
Loved listening to this story.It made me cry, numb, Speechless and marvel at the power of words.The author greets us with a lyrical marvel encompassing the pain of a migrant family who were trying to fit into their new life while holding onto their roots in midst of countless jabs of rejection.A heartbreaking story that will remain with you for a long time.
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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
- Ket
- 17-03-22
Honest, Sublime, Powerful, Poetic, Gorgeous.
I will never find enough words to describe the sheer beauty of this book. How it fuses poetry and prose, pain and pleasure, real and surreal, human and inhuman, all in one glowing 'single use life'.
It's the story of Little dog- a Vietnamese immigrant growing up in America. But it's so much more than that. It's about Saigon and Hartford, war and postwar. It's about mothers and daughters and sons and grandsons. It talks of horrors and adventures of growing up on the wrong side of the town. And of being alive amidst death- a kaleidoscope of love, heartache, memories, dreams, and lies that hold truer than the truth.
PS: Violence, Sex, Nudity, Foul Language- if that's what you want to call it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-08-22
too graphic for me...
Perhaps I have my hyper active imagination to blame but I couldn't enjoy this book owing to the graphic descriptions of suffering, intimacy and more. Some parts were too overwhelming. Having said that, there is no denying that the prose is lyrical and poetic and the emotions depicted on paper are visceral and gut renching.
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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
- aparna adhav
- 02-08-21
A touching story
I would not be sure if I call it a story or anything else. However my evening walks were beautiful with this book,and it touches the heart in different ways.A book I shall go back to. Sentimental and real.Life is hard and beautiful.
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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
- Samir Satam
- 14-06-20
Dance of Pain
Pain dances to a rhythm of artfully composed sentences in the pages of this book... The writing style is what elevates this book to a higher level... Through this heartbreakingly beautiful book, Ocean Vuong builds his own bridge between poetry and literary fiction.
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1 person found this helpful