The 30-year-old Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong structures his semi-autobiographical debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, as a long, devastating letter. It’s written by the narrator, Little Dog, to his mother, who is still shattered by the Vietnam War and living unmoored in America. Little Dog serves as a translator to his mother, who is illiterate. “I took off our language and wore my English, like a mask, so that others would see my face, and therefore yours,” writes Little Dog. The character wants to be seen, and he wants his mother to be seen, so he tries to make sense of their lives as refugees by writing...

Source: Wall Street Journal June 04, 2019 15:33 UTC