On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous | A Hybrid Book Discussion

YOU'RE INVITED

• Join your friends and meet new ones as we continue our seventh season of CDGA Queer Lit Book Club and discuss Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel. * This hybrid event will take place in person at Wood Library in Canandaigua and online via Zoom.

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OVERVIEW

• "Brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and highly original - poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a sweeping and shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to 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."

WE ♥ LIBRARIES

• Our event title is available to borrow through the OWWL, Monroe and New York Public Library systems.

WE ♥ INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES

• Noire Reading Room is Rochester's online/pop-up Black Feminist Bookstore, featuring Black, Queer, and Radical texts. Support Noire Reading Room when you purchase this event's selection on their partner page with Bookshop.
• Ampersand Books is the Neighborhood of the Arts' independent bookstore owned and operated by Writers & Books, Rochester’s leading nonprofit literary arts center. Support Ampersand Books and get 15% off when you purchase this event's selection on their website.

CREDITS

• On earth we're briefly gorgeous: A novel. (n.d.). OWWL library system. Retrieved April 17, 2025, from https://ont.search.owwl.org/GroupedWork/0de27e03-4fe8-b840-bddf-7f8f660e3042-eng?searchId=26727413&recordIndex=1&page=1

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