Quote by Ocean Vuong: “Let me begin again. Let me put down my guns.”

Starting over means disarming yourself — letting go of the defenses, bitterness, and self-protection you've built up. 'Guns' here are the emotional weapons we carry into our relationships. The desire to begin again is the desire to be vulnerable enough to try loving without armor.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous draws on the experience of a Vietnamese refugee family carrying the psychological inheritance of war into everyday American life. The Vietnam War's shadow falls across the novel's exploration of violence, love, and the possibility of renewal.

Vietnamese-American poet and novelist whose debut poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2017. His debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous explores immigrant identity, queerness, and intergenerational trauma through a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. He teaches at New York University.