Module 8 #3

[Katherine]

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

The third book I chose to review for my LGBTQ+ is “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel '' By Ocean Vuong. This story has been recognized by many and given multiple awards such as the Kirkus Prize, Lambda Literary Awards, as well as the National Book Award. This book has also received reviews from “The New York Times Book Review” as well as “The Guardian.” This book is about a young Vietnamese man writing to his illiterate mother. This book goes into detail about their family history, the trauma that he has faced from the Vietnam War, their immigrant experience in the United States. This book unfortunately does not have any pictures, but the author's rich descriptive words can help the reader paint a mental image! This book is available in multiple formats such as hardcover, paperback, audiobook, as well as an ebook, and/or a kindle. I would say that the strong literary elements in this book are the descriptive imagery, deep emotions, as well as the ability to connect to the author. The author uses vocabulary to help deepen the emotions behind the readers, and create an authentic connection to the story. This is by no means a book for children. This book is suitable for ages 17 and up. This book is for readers who are interested in literary fiction, poetry, LGBTQ+ stories and those readers who appreciate an emotional read! While thinking of how to use this book in the classroom, it is important to understand that this would have to be in a high school or college setting. For purposes such as: Literature and English classes, to explore themes of identity, trauma, as well as the immigrant experience.

[Salvatore]

The book reckons wildly with aspects of authenticity and the immigrant-outsider status. The way 50 Cent's "Many Men (Wish Death)" beautifully contextualizes the New England aesthetic, its foreground, its identities, and bridges minority identities (however disparate in experience) still sticks with me as I navigate America as a young person who has realized, yes, there is a class of people who "wish death" on people like me, too. To tell a story so different is an achievement in itself, especially to those who feel the violence and destruction of colonialism (or "cultural hybridity" according to litcharts), and simultaneously the gravity of it being responsible for their own creation. To tell this story is to utter what America dreams of in the dark.