2.26k reviews for:

The Emperor of Gladness

Ocean Vuong

4.26 AVERAGE

megbrasel's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad

kyholio15's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tkibbee17's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mzynda's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

plantsandbooksandrocks's review against another edition

2.25

slow-paced

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Slow, desolate portrayal of small town American poverty. So many scenes and bits of dialogue rang false to me. I didn't like the stereotypical, one-dimensional portrayal of autism in the character Sony. Actually a lot of the characters were caricature-ish and too outlandish at times to believe. I also wonder if the author had ever worked in minimum wage fast food before as so many of the (painstakingly detailed) aspects of the protagonist's workplace sounded nothing like any joint I ever worked at. Every scene just felt like it was designed to make the reader depressed but the author didn't have any first-hand experience or didn't research the topics/problems/settings/etc. in order to make a more accurate and richly nuanced novel. Maybe I'm wrong but it felt forced and half-baked. 

yutopia's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

moominsandmagic's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

easeupkid's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

meholtzapple's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kcotsira's review against another edition

1.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I do not understand the hype of this novel. It felt as if a 15 year old was given the prompt to write a Pulitzer winning novel. 

1. Stonewall Jackson was glorified, multiple time! I do not understand his sick obsession with war, I would say 50% of this novel covers that topic? Also, did we really have to read about 50 pigs being slaughtered, that was so depressing. The final straw for me was when he wrote “you can’t hit me, you’re autistic.” What was the point of that statement?