On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
By Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press, 2019).
Although I’m no longer a school practitioner (I taught and served as a principal for almost 40 years), I still think like one. When I worked in high schools, my favorite part of the day was when I visited the library to see what students were reading and what books the librarian had selected for display. We had a building-wide book club where we (students, faculty and staff, and sometimes parents) would recommend books. I loved seeing who suggested what titles. Even now, when I read a novel, I think, “Is this something my students would like?” or “Is this a book I should recommend to a teacher or the librarian?”
So, when I finished On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong, I immediately thought about Ms. Brown. “She would teach this book,” I thought. I loved visiting Ms. Brown’s class where, at least once a week, I would find students sprawled out on comfy chairs or leaning against a desk, reading. (It was in Ms. Brown’s class that I learned about The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, a novel that transported me to Nazi Germany in 1939.)
Vuong’s protagonist is Little Dog, who writes a letter to his illiterate mother. The book is both autobiographical and poetic, narrating a family history that begins in Vietnam and moves on to Hartford, Connecticut. More than a historical novel, it is also a poignant and disturbing exposé of masculinity, race, class, addiction, and violence. Yet, there is the redemptive power of love. When I finished the book, I felt bereft until I learned that I could listen to Ocean Vuong being interviewed by Krista Tippett on the public radio show On Being. Hearing Vuong’s voice brought the novel closer into my heart. I believe that listening to the characters in this book could shed light on how we might begin to heal as we emerge from this pandemic. There is so much beautiful writing in this book: “I remember my father, which is to say I am putting him back together” or “The garden is so lush it seems to pulse in the weak light.” The language, the story, and the message create a memorable narrative for all.
Linda F. Nathan’s latest in Kappan
- When school goes home: Reimagining the educator’s role
- Joyful learning at scale: Immersing students in the arts
- The new “How People Learn”: Culture matters
- The art of the school-community partnership
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda F. Nathan
Linda F. Nathan is a leadership coach and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge College-Puerto Rico.
Visit their website at: www.lindanathan.com
