Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lovelymisanthrope 's review for:
The Emperor of Gladness
by Ocean Vuong
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I picked this up because it was someone's Patreon book club pick of the month.
"The Emperor of Gladness" is a novel that follows a young man named Hai. Nineteen-year-old Hai finds himself standing on the edge of a bridge one summer night in a town called East Gladness. Hai has every intention of jumping off, when a woman, Grazina, stops him and makes him come inside with her. The two strike up an unexpected friendship and begin exploring life's unpredictability together.
This was my first book from Ocean Vuong and I was absolutely blown away. His writing style is so unbelievably profound and poetic. There were several moments when I would read a sentence and have to take a moment to soak in the prose before I continued reading. Ocean's ability to compose such thoughtful sentences impressed me at every turn of the page.
As much as I loved the writing itself, the story started to drag for me a little in the middle of the story. Hai gets a job, and the job and the coworkers become an integral part of the story. This is fine, but I was far more invested in the plot with Hai and Grazina, so when the story started exploring the coworkers more, I lost interest. There was also a scene that involved some animal killing that I did not see coming and did not want to read about.
I look forward to reading more from Ocean Vuong in the future!
"The Emperor of Gladness" is a novel that follows a young man named Hai. Nineteen-year-old Hai finds himself standing on the edge of a bridge one summer night in a town called East Gladness. Hai has every intention of jumping off, when a woman, Grazina, stops him and makes him come inside with her. The two strike up an unexpected friendship and begin exploring life's unpredictability together.
This was my first book from Ocean Vuong and I was absolutely blown away. His writing style is so unbelievably profound and poetic. There were several moments when I would read a sentence and have to take a moment to soak in the prose before I continued reading. Ocean's ability to compose such thoughtful sentences impressed me at every turn of the page.
As much as I loved the writing itself, the story started to drag for me a little in the middle of the story. Hai gets a job, and the job and the coworkers become an integral part of the story. This is fine, but I was far more invested in the plot with Hai and Grazina, so when the story started exploring the coworkers more, I lost interest. There was also a scene that involved some animal killing that I did not see coming and did not want to read about.
I look forward to reading more from Ocean Vuong in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship