Ocean Vuong

And it's like, why did that happen? Why in a freezer in East Hartford, Connecticut, does a man tell me something that I think has only been uttered in that freezer to this day?

You know, I think as a culture, we always want this sort of grand arc. Rags to riches. Gets the girl. Gets the guy. We know where the body is. We know who the killer is. It's like the Scooby-Doo effect. You always get the unmasking. And there's a payoff. And... I just wondered if I could write a book that didn't have improvement arcs. Because it also aligned with my observation of my communities.

You know, I think as a culture, we always want this sort of grand arc. Rags to riches. Gets the girl. Gets the guy. We know where the body is. We know who the killer is. It's like the Scooby-Doo effect. You always get the unmasking. And there's a payoff. And... I just wondered if I could write a book that didn't have improvement arcs. Because it also aligned with my observation of my communities.

My brother has worked at Dick's Sporting Goods his whole life. My stepdad works at this auto parts company called Standardine.

My brother has worked at Dick's Sporting Goods his whole life. My stepdad works at this auto parts company called Standardine.

They're both in Connecticut. For 25 years, he worked from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. I never saw him. I came home from school at 4 a.m. I only saw him on the weekends. He would sleep in. I saw, like, a tuft of hair poking out of the blanket in his room. That was it, you know? And so I just thought, we want stories of change. We believe in it. We buy it. And yet...

They're both in Connecticut. For 25 years, he worked from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. I never saw him. I came home from school at 4 a.m. I only saw him on the weekends. He would sleep in. I saw, like, a tuft of hair poking out of the blanket in his room. That was it, you know? And so I just thought, we want stories of change. We believe in it. We buy it. And yet...

American life, even at its best, is often static. You drive the same car, I know people who live in the same apartment, but it doesn't mean that their lives are worthless, that it's meaningless, that they failed, right? So I'm interested in re-identifying the idea of the loser or loserdom, like economic losers, the left behind. In my first book, it's a queer story about someone who never leaves.

American life, even at its best, is often static. You drive the same car, I know people who live in the same apartment, but it doesn't mean that their lives are worthless, that it's meaningless, that they failed, right? So I'm interested in re-identifying the idea of the loser or loserdom, like economic losers, the left behind. In my first book, it's a queer story about someone who never leaves.

Because the queer story is always ameliorated when you go to the city. I'm like, some of us can't afford to. Some of us have elders to care. Some of us need to be gay in the cornfield because there's nowhere else to go. And so this book, it's not a spoiler to say that nobody gets a better job. No one gets a raise. So what happens? You get people.

Because the queer story is always ameliorated when you go to the city. I'm like, some of us can't afford to. Some of us have elders to care. Some of us need to be gay in the cornfield because there's nowhere else to go. And so this book, it's not a spoiler to say that nobody gets a better job. No one gets a raise. So what happens? You get people.

And what I've been really interested in is this idea of kindness without hope. And what I saw working in the fast food, growing up in Hartford County, was that people are kind even when they know it won't matter. What is that? Where does that come from? You know, like, you know that whatever you're going to do is not going to help someone materially. Jumping their car.

And what I've been really interested in is this idea of kindness without hope. And what I saw working in the fast food, growing up in Hartford County, was that people are kind even when they know it won't matter. What is that? Where does that come from? You know, like, you know that whatever you're going to do is not going to help someone materially. Jumping their car.

I watched co-workers get together and dig each other out of blizzards before anyone could go home. They could just dig themselves out and leave. go home sooner, hug their families. But they all stayed and they dug each other out. You know, the generosity that my neighbors had. Growing up in a black and brown community, we were invited into Baptist church. We knew no English.

I watched co-workers get together and dig each other out of blizzards before anyone could go home. They could just dig themselves out and leave. go home sooner, hug their families. But they all stayed and they dug each other out. You know, the generosity that my neighbors had. Growing up in a black and brown community, we were invited into Baptist church. We knew no English.

They gave us free bread. And I just said, what is kindness that is exhibited knowing there's no payoff?

They gave us free bread. And I just said, what is kindness that is exhibited knowing there's no payoff?

I don't know. I write, you know, David, I've been really interested in kindness as an intrinsic thing and goodness as an intrinsic thing. Like my brother just has it. He came with kindness. I never had it. I had a desire to understand goodness. But I never had it the way like my brother does. And I know because I raised him.

I don't know. I write, you know, David, I've been really interested in kindness as an intrinsic thing and goodness as an intrinsic thing. Like my brother just has it. He came with kindness. I never had it. I had a desire to understand goodness. But I never had it the way like my brother does. And I know because I raised him.

When my parents were at the factories in an ale salon, we're 10 years apart. So I was holding a little baby in my arms as a 10-year-old feeding him milk. So I'm like, I raised him. I didn't give him that. He had it. And I'm just interested in that because I don't, it's strange to me. I don't know it. You know, it doesn't come natural to me.