Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa From the Archive – On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong On Beauty, Grief & The Language That Saves Us
8 snips
Jun 10, 2025 
Join acclaimed poet and novelist Ocean Vuong, known for his impactful debut novel, as he unpacks the complexities of language and trauma. He explores how writing can act as a bridge between generations, emphasizing the weight of memory in immigrant experiences. Ocean shares poignant stories about his grandmother and the intersection of queerness and survival. He also delves into the challenges of intimacy in writing, responding to censorship, and the excitement of adapting his novel for film. It's a heartfelt conversation about beauty and the power of words.
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Music's Structural Influence
- Music shapes Vuong's narrative instincts: songs center a me and a you, creating intimacy he borrowed for the novel.
- He compares refrains and choruses to patterns that bind non-linear writing into a whole.
Poet's Approach To Novel Form
- Ocean Vuong used poetic techniques to structure his novel as a series of refrains and vignettes rather than a linear plot.
- He treats the novel like an album where patterns and refrains replace conventional scene-by-scene exposition.
Keep Creative Complexity Intact
- Resist commercial pressure to narrow your story to marketable themes and keep the work's complexity.
- Vuong intentionally kept multiple themes and modes like an album rather than slimming the book for sale.
