The Emperor of Gladness

First edition, 416 sidor

På English

Publicerades 13 maj 2025 av Penguin Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-593-83187-8
OCLC-nummer:: 1434572815

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to …

One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.

7 utgåvor

Taylor Drew recenserade The Emperor of Gladness av Ocean Vuong

The good we do for others

5 stjärnor

I've never read any of Ocean Vuong's poetry, but I did listen to his other novel, and in many ways, this one reminds me of that story. The details have long since left, but the raw, bruised echoes remain firmly in my mind. I expect this novel will be the same.

There are a lot of things about The Emperor of Gladness that are hard. Drugs are a prominent theme and play a very significant role in the story and its progression. There's family trauma, and drama, and death. None of the characters in this story have lived easy lives, but I would argue that they've lived good ones, and the lyrical way that the story shifts back and forth between time, only seems to make that even more apparent.

This book is painful and it isn't easy, but it is so full of love and desperate hope …

I've never read any of Ocean Vuong's poetry, but I did listen to his other novel, and in many ways, this one reminds me of that story. The details have long since left, but the raw, bruised echoes remain firmly in my mind. I expect this novel will be the same.

There are a lot of things about The Emperor of Gladness that are hard. Drugs are a prominent theme and play a very significant role in the story and its progression. There's family trauma, and drama, and death. None of the characters in this story have lived easy lives, but I would argue that they've lived good ones, and the lyrical way that the story shifts back and forth between time, only seems to make that even more apparent.

This book is painful and it isn't easy, but it is so full of love and desperate hope too, and that part is easy. I loved as they loved and when I finally reached the last page, I couldn't help but cry.

Ämnen

Fiction
Literary Fiction
Friendship
Intergenerational Relationships
Dementia
Grief