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mikbamford 's review for:
The Emperor of Gladness
by Ocean Vuong
challenging
dark
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
2.75/5
Completely aware that I'm the odd one out here - maybe I just wasn't in the right mood or state of mind to read this, but at times it felt like pulling teeth just to get through it.
There is no doubt that the prose is astonishingly beautiful, it's overwhelmingly captivating that it can be hard to focus on anything else. If you love stunning, heartfelt prose - this is the book for you.
I loved the cast of characters - this book could be interpreted as a giant character study on Hai or the people of East Gladness - some of the best parts are when the workers of HomeMarket are together, or when Hai and Sony are bonding / flashbacks, or with Hai and Grazina at the start. You will love the characters, and your heart will break for them constantly - you just want them to get a win in life.
I don't want to spoil it, but during the last couple chapters you have to suspend your belief in regards to Grazina's dementia - it felt a bit convenient that throughout the book she is having dementia-induced flashbacks of world war 2 when she was 17 years old and believes Hai is an American solider, and then suddenly she is capable of travelling with a group of strangers (to her - but to Hai they are his coworkers/found family), sleeping in a barn, hiking in the bush, and then the next day be completely fine and lucid up until it was necessary for the plot (read: when her asshole son is there to pick her up and bring her to a nursing home - which she should've been in years ago).
I just felt as if the prose overshadowed the plot as points, and made the plot seem hollow. Felt like the dialogue did a lot of "telling" and little "showing", not a lot of subtlety (and sometimes the characters said cheesy things that didn't match up with the overall tone of the book and the elegance of the prose elsewhere). It was also repetitive, the same sentiment was repeated in different poetic ways over and over again, when it didn't need to be.
I'd like to try and read it again one day - I might get more out of it. As of right now, it just wasn't for me and I feel a lot older after reading it was than I was before.
Completely aware that I'm the odd one out here - maybe I just wasn't in the right mood or state of mind to read this, but at times it felt like pulling teeth just to get through it.
There is no doubt that the prose is astonishingly beautiful, it's overwhelmingly captivating that it can be hard to focus on anything else. If you love stunning, heartfelt prose - this is the book for you.
I loved the cast of characters - this book could be interpreted as a giant character study on Hai or the people of East Gladness - some of the best parts are when the workers of HomeMarket are together, or when Hai and Sony are bonding / flashbacks, or with Hai and Grazina at the start. You will love the characters, and your heart will break for them constantly - you just want them to get a win in life.
I don't want to spoil it, but during the last couple chapters you have to suspend your belief in regards to Grazina's dementia - it felt a bit convenient that throughout the book she is having dementia-induced flashbacks of world war 2 when she was 17 years old and believes Hai is an American solider, and then suddenly she is capable of travelling with a group of strangers (to her - but to Hai they are his coworkers/found family), sleeping in a barn, hiking in the bush, and then the next day be completely fine and lucid up until it was necessary for the plot (read: when her asshole son is there to pick her up and bring her to a nursing home - which she should've been in years ago).
I just felt as if the prose overshadowed the plot as points, and made the plot seem hollow. Felt like the dialogue did a lot of "telling" and little "showing", not a lot of subtlety (and sometimes the characters said cheesy things that didn't match up with the overall tone of the book and the elegance of the prose elsewhere). It was also repetitive, the same sentiment was repeated in different poetic ways over and over again, when it didn't need to be.
I'd like to try and read it again one day - I might get more out of it. As of right now, it just wasn't for me and I feel a lot older after reading it was than I was before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt
Minor: Death of parent