一封深情、懇切、未曾打算寄出的信

　　這是一封兒子寫給不識字的母親的信。

　　28歲的「小狗」，幼時就隨家人從越南移居美國，他的童年時期壟罩在被施暴的陰影中，生活的壓力不斷耗損他的母親，而母親暴躁的情緒則對他宣洩。在一個不同於他出生之處的國度，小狗同時也必須克服語言的隔閡，以及他異於周遭環境的陰柔氣質。信中挖掘了遠在他出生之前，他的家族深植於越南的歷史，當身為美國軍人的祖父，在越南遇見了他的祖母，越戰自此深深影響了他的家族與他的成長過程，讓他邁向母親不知曉的那一部分人生。

　　本書是詩人Ocean Vuong的首部小說作品，他的文字如詩，深情、觸動人心，勾勒出一個移民家族、一段美越歷史交織的歲月、一個男孩在初戀中摸索的歷程，以及一對母子艱辛但毫無疑問的愛，訴說了對於種族、階級、男性氣質殘酷而真實的探尋。


(文/博客來編譯)
　　An instant New York Times Bestseller!

　　Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal in Fiction, the 2019 Aspen Words Literacy Prize, and the PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel Award

　　Shortlisted for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

　　Winner of the 2019 New England Book Award for Fiction!

　　Named one of the most anticipated books of 2019 by Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Oprah.com, Huffington Post, The A.V. Club, Nylon, The Week, The Rumpus, The Millions, The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and more.

　　“A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

　　Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and 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 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 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.

　　Named a Best Book of the Year by:
　　GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME, Esquire, The Washington Post, Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine and more!