Ocean Vuong

As much as I just talked about how language makes more language, sometimes when you're kneeling at your mom's deathbed and she's hallucinating, you can't say the conversations. You have to meet them where they are. And I didn't get to say what I wanted to say to her which is why I wrote that in the last page of this book. The last page of this book is what I wanted to say to my mother.

As much as I just talked about how language makes more language, sometimes when you're kneeling at your mom's deathbed and she's hallucinating, you can't say the conversations. You have to meet them where they are. And I didn't get to say what I wanted to say to her which is why I wrote that in the last page of this book. The last page of this book is what I wanted to say to my mother.

As much as I just talked about how language makes more language, sometimes when you're kneeling at your mom's deathbed and she's hallucinating, you can't say the conversations. You have to meet them where they are. And I didn't get to say what I wanted to say to her which is why I wrote that in the last page of this book. The last page of this book is what I wanted to say to my mother.

And I think that's the most powerful thing about fiction is that you give yourself a second chance. You create a scenario where these characters can play it out for you. And Hai and his mother has this conversation that I wish I had with my mom. But I had no right to bring that on to her when she's taking her last breaths. And so...

And I think that's the most powerful thing about fiction is that you give yourself a second chance. You create a scenario where these characters can play it out for you. And Hai and his mother has this conversation that I wish I had with my mom. But I had no right to bring that on to her when she's taking her last breaths. And so...

And I think that's the most powerful thing about fiction is that you give yourself a second chance. You create a scenario where these characters can play it out for you. And Hai and his mother has this conversation that I wish I had with my mom. But I had no right to bring that on to her when she's taking her last breaths. And so...

You write fiction to create something that's shareable for people. And in a way, it's a fantasy. It's what I hoped I could say, but I didn't get to say it to the real person. And so I create a dreamland where everyone gets to say what they need to say.

You write fiction to create something that's shareable for people. And in a way, it's a fantasy. It's what I hoped I could say, but I didn't get to say it to the real person. And so I create a dreamland where everyone gets to say what they need to say.

You write fiction to create something that's shareable for people. And in a way, it's a fantasy. It's what I hoped I could say, but I didn't get to say it to the real person. And so I create a dreamland where everyone gets to say what they need to say.

I worked at a place called Boston Market in a place called Panera. And I was living in HUD housing. It's a one-bedroom apartment with my mother and my brother. It was this kind of situation where if your family income surpassed, then you can't live there anymore. But the next housing opportunity would be unaffordable to us. So my mother literally...

I worked at a place called Boston Market in a place called Panera. And I was living in HUD housing. It's a one-bedroom apartment with my mother and my brother. It was this kind of situation where if your family income surpassed, then you can't live there anymore. But the next housing opportunity would be unaffordable to us. So my mother literally...

said, you know, when you get a job, just work at McDonald's to stay under. It was, you know, McDonald's $7.15 an hour, which is minimum wage. And in the summers, I worked on a tobacco farm, which is $9.50 cash. No Uncle Sam involved.

said, you know, when you get a job, just work at McDonald's to stay under. It was, you know, McDonald's $7.15 an hour, which is minimum wage. And in the summers, I worked on a tobacco farm, which is $9.50 cash. No Uncle Sam involved.

So you confront as a teenager immediately this kind of like antithesis of like American prosperity and upward mobility, where it's like, don't make too much money or we'll be homeless. Yeah. But a lot of people had that predicament. So I went to Boston Market, which is now like a very eye-opening experience of American life, I think.

So you confront as a teenager immediately this kind of like antithesis of like American prosperity and upward mobility, where it's like, don't make too much money or we'll be homeless. Yeah. But a lot of people had that predicament. So I went to Boston Market, which is now like a very eye-opening experience of American life, I think.

Well, first of all, I learned that everything is about deception, right? We didn't cook anything. The entire thing was a series of microwaves in various, you know, it's taking frozen sacks of food in giant plastic bags, reheating it, and then presenting wholesome home-cooked meals. But what I learned was, you know, we have this idea of American life being the nuclear family.

Well, first of all, I learned that everything is about deception, right? We didn't cook anything. The entire thing was a series of microwaves in various, you know, it's taking frozen sacks of food in giant plastic bags, reheating it, and then presenting wholesome home-cooked meals. But what I learned was, you know, we have this idea of American life being the nuclear family.

But I think a huge portion of how this country is formed is through circumstantial family. labor, this arbitrary cobbling of strangers thrown together. And then we have to kind of sacrifice relationships with our own family in order to be here. And yet, intimacies arise despite that, because human beings, no matter where they are, will find bounding relationships.

But I think a huge portion of how this country is formed is through circumstantial family. labor, this arbitrary cobbling of strangers thrown together. And then we have to kind of sacrifice relationships with our own family in order to be here. And yet, intimacies arise despite that, because human beings, no matter where they are, will find bounding relationships.

And a month in, you'll start to know whose cough belongs to who. You'll know when, you know, Joe's drugstore deodorant will wear off at which hour, right? I'm like, we're at the third hour. I'm going to start to smell his BO underneath the deodorant. And there's nothing more intimate than that. But you also, you're so dependent on each other.