On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Coming out. Coming of age. Immigrant story. Abusive parent. Opiod abuse. There doesn't seem to be much fresh about the story itself, although the language is beautiful. The author is a poet, after all. Perhaps the most intriguing character in the book for me is Paul, the “grandfather” of the narrator, and even his story is familiar–the well-meaning soldier separated from his Vietnamese love who ends up marrying an American girl back home, leaving the Vietnamese girl to fend for herself.