Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month for September 2020
Shortlisted for the Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize 2020
Brilliant,heartbreaking and highly original,Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family,and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling.
This 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. It tells of Vietnam,of the lasting impact of war,and of his family's struggle to forge a new future. And it serves as a doorway into parts of Little Dog's life his mother has never known - episodes of bewilderment,fear and passion - all the while moving closer to an unforgettable revelation.
Publisher: Vintage PublishingISBN: 9781529110685Number of pages: 256Weight: 181 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 16 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A marvel.'- Marlon James
'A masterpiece.'- Max Porter
'Luminous,shattering,urgent,necessary.'- Celeste Ng
'Deeply moving... Little Dog's story is the story of modern America.'-Daily Telegraph
'Everything is beautiful in this debut... Vuong has originality running through his veins,and a good deal of humour and impish charm... This impressive debut hints at even greater things to come.'- The Times
'A stunning,beautiful book... His writing is phenomenal... Simply brilliant.'- BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review
'This is some of the most moving writing I've read... The tenderness of the prose feels like a triumph against a world hellbent on embittering the tenderhearted... the truths arrived at in this book are valuable precisely because they are steeped in feeling.'-New York Times
'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,Washington Post
'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,Sunday IndependentBooks of the Year
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