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June CCP Book Club: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

June 18 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

The June CCP Book Club will discuss “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” a stunning 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.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

Details

Date:
June 18
Time:
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Event Categories:
,
Website:
https://capitalcitypride.org/event/june-book-club-on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous/

Venue

Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe
315 5th Street, Suite 100
West Des Moines, IA 50265 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
(515) 864-9089
View Venue Website

Other

Event Audience
LGBTQ Parents, Teen, Young Adult, Adults Only (21+), Gay Men, Bisexual Women, Lesbians, Trans & Non-Binary