MLK Library Literary Book Club

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

We meet the second Tuesday of every month to discuss a work of literary fiction.

Are you interested in literary fiction and nonfiction? Are you looking for a book club that meets in downtown DC? Join the longest-running book club hosted by DCPL!

For June's meeting, we will be discussing On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. About the book:

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.

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