On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel

"When Ocean Vuong’s mother – a Vietnamese immigrant – gave him his distinctive first name, she called into being a writer whose language will carry readers away. Vuong’s sentences are liquid, flowing, teasing and overpowering. Written in the form of a letter from a son to his illiterate mother, Vuong’s debut novel ranges from the legacy of the Vietnam War, to a gay teenager’s sexual awakening, to the wry observation that “sorry” is the most-used English word spoken by Asian manicurists. Like so many immigrant writers before him, Vuong has not only made the English language his own, he’s made it better."