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The Emperor of Gladness: Oprah's Book Club
The Emperor of Gladness: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel | Ocean Vuong
3 posts | 3 read | 5 to read
Oprahs Book Club Pick Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of society, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive. Oprah Winfrey Magnificent . . . In writing this book, Vuong may have joined the ranks of an elite few great novelists. Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times The hardest thing in the world is to live only once 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 Hais 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 Vuongs writingformal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tendernessare on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of lifes most fleeting mercies: a second chance.
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Mattsbookaday
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The Emperor of Gladness, by Ocean Vuong (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A young recovering addict in 2010 New England develops an unlikely friendship with an elderly Lithuanian immigrant living with advanced dementia.

Review: Oof. I‘m not sure what to say about this one. It is unarguably a brilliant and important piece of literature, telling a story with a strong point of view.
Cont.

Mattsbookaday It also has an incredible sense of place, and profound empathy for all of its down-on-their-luck characters. As it explores themes of dreams and delusions, it rips Western society open to devastating effect, with no sentimentality. But it‘s so effective in doing this and its perspective is so pessimistic that it almost made wonder if life is actually worth living. I‘m giving this five stars because it deserves them, but I‘m not happy about it! 2d
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Jas16
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Hai is floundering. At his lowest point he meets Grazina who is suffering from dementia and offers him a place to stay in exchange for caregiving and friendship. He gets a job at a food joint and finds coworkers who are all equally lost but see and support Hai with acceptance that he desperately needs. Found family and life on the fringes of the American dream combined with Vuong‘s poetic writing and characters who have earned a place in my heart.

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ErikasMindfulShelf
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I really liked it. The opening line hit me hard.