On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Raised by his mother, Rose, and his grandmother, Lan, Little Dog grows up in a lower working-class neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, beginning in the early 90s. Troubled by loss and abuse, Little Dog, at age 28, decides to write a letter to his illiterate mother, using it as a method of exorcising his demons, exploring the loss and trauma that shaped his and his family’s lives, and the love and beauty that defines their lives.

Lan, Little Dog’s grandmother, grew up in a small village in Vietnam, Go Cong. Lan’s name was initially simply “Seven,” her number in the birth order of her siblings. Lan was married off, escaped her marriage, and was disowned by her family. Eventually, she met Paul, an American GI. They have a daughter together, though Rose claims that she is the daughter of another nameless GI, not Paul. Paul stays with his family in Vietnam until his American family tricks him into coming back and suppresses communications from Lan. During this time, Little Dog is born. By the time Lan immigrates to America, Paul has been remarried for eight years.

Little Dog faces bullies at school, and his parents beat him at home. His father is arrested for abusing his mother. The novel recounts various times Rose abused Little Dog. Early on in their life in Hartford, the family experiences racism and linguistic barriers. In high school, Little Dog gets a job harvesting tobacco alongside Hispanic migrant laborers.

On the tobacco farm, Little Dog meets Trevor, a teenager two years his senior and grandson of Mr. Buford, owner of the farm. Little Dog and Trevor quickly enter a tumultuous relationship, marked by violence and drug abuse. Trevor wrecks his father’s truck and eventually lands in rehab for opioid addiction. Both young men struggle with their identities in face of their burgeoning sexuality.

Little Dog eventually decides to attend a community college in Brooklyn. Trevor does not want him to go but does little to stop him. The last time they see each other, they are in a parking lot of a diner. It is evident that Trevor has been shooting up heroin. One night in class, Little Dog finds out via Facebook that Trevor wrecked his car and died. He was high on a mix of heroin and fentanyl.

Lan quickly falls ill; the prognosis is late stage bone cancer, and the doctors give her two weeks to live. Her passing is excruciating for her, and terrible for Little Dog to witness. Rose and Mai preside over the arrangements for their mother’s funeral. Lan is cremated, and the family travels to Go Cong to inter her ashes. Little Dog video calls Paul, allowing him to pay his final respects to Lan and apologize to her at her gravesite.

In Vietnam, Little Dog witnesses a festival-like funeral, complete with drag performers hired to bring levity to the situation. In the present, this sparks Little Dog to consider the relationship between the beauty and brevity of life. He feels connected with his family through the love his mother has always shown him.