The Emperor of Gladness: Oprah's Book Club: A Novel

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What’s it about?

Hai is nineteen-years-old when he decides to jump off a bridge. But then he hears someone calling to him. Grazina is an elderly widow from Lithuania (with dementia) who lives alone on an abandoned street near the river. She brings Hai home with her, and they form an alliance. Each is relying on pills to keep going. Hai gets a job at a local fast food chain where he adds to his chosen family.

What did it make me think about?

How sad can one book be?

Should I read it?

So, I should premise my review with the fact that for the last ten days, I have had family visiting, so I have been picking this book up and putting it down frequently. I think that influences how much I enjoy a book. So many people have loved this book that I wonder about my indifference to this story. So, take this review with a grain of salt….

I genuinely admire Ocean Vuong’s writing abilities. His prose is beautiful, sometimes so beautiful that you linger over the words. He captures Hai’s immigrant experience, giving us a glimpse into how easily his future can slip away. He has created interesting characters, and I always love a novel about the families we choose. I also liked how often kindness is shown throughout this story, but I still didn’t love the book. In fact, I did not like it. It was just hard for me to read more than 10 pages without nodding off. I did admire the book- but sometimes that is not enough….

If you are a reader who loves beautiful prose, then pick this one up.

Quote-

” ‘You’re just clinically depressed,’ he heard himself say. ‘Means you’re sad without a reason.’ Her forehead wrinkled at the idea. ‘No, I didn’t outlive Stalin to be depressed.’ She shook her head defiantly. ‘You kids want to blame everything on feelings.’ ”

Ocean Vuong’s writing is slowly becoming my specific brand of melancholic, poetic therapy. The Emperor of Gladness is equal parts depressing, touching, tender, joyful, and deeply sad, and there’s also a road trip!! I’m beginning to understand that it's easier to cope with dark themes when they’re presented in dystopian sci-fi or dark fantasy. However, it's much more challenging when those themes reflect the harsh realities of today's world, which mundanely drain the lives of an entire population. Is this a good book? Yes, hands down! Is it enjoyable? I honestly don’t know. But scattered through all the heaviness are small pockets of warmth where this motley crew of characters finds dark humor in their difficult lives or shows each other sweet, tender affection. Those moments feel like little sparks in the dark, and maybe it’s what kept the characters going, and in a way, me too.

It was a hard to get through book. I found it to be too back and forth with the dialogue, wordy, depressing and a little unrealistic.

Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness keeps you waiting for the moment the storylines would all come together. It is a long wait. Hai is standing on a bridge and ready to end everything. Grazina calls out to him from across the water and changes the course of his life. He becomes her caretaker, and from there, the story builds an unlikely community of people who are all a little broken and lost. That found family element really worked for me. I loved watching these relationships form and deepen. There’s something so heartwarming about people choosing each other when life has not been kind. When Vuong focuses on connection and care, the book really does have something special. There was a scene where Hai's mother tells him he is her second chance because she had him at seventeen and never got to be a young adult. I totally related to that feeling as a young mother myself! Those small moments where characters show up for each other are where it shines. I just wish the story had a clearer sense of direction to support those moments. But wow, this book wanders. I kept asking myself what we were building toward beyond community matters. Yes, I agree with that message. I just did not need fourteen hours to get there. The writing is very detailed and very reflective, but it circles the same ideas so many times that it starts to feel repetitive instead of meaningful. I could not get past the rap battle storyline. The slang felt so out of touch that it pulled me right out of the story. It didn’t match the tone of the rest of the book and ended up feeling more distracting than impactful. On audio, James Aaron Oh handles a huge cast of characters. Which is no small task. Some voices worked better than others. The emotional scenes were done really well. This is a thoughtful and big-hearted book that will absolutely find its audience. You will probably connect with this story more htan I did if you love slow, reflective stories that prioritize feelings over plot. I needed a stronger throughline and a little less meandering to stay engaged.

“You lose the dead as the earth takes them, but the living you still have a say in.”

Ocean Vuong is an artistic writer that is for sure. His book flows like poetry and his wording is filled with imaginitive descriptions of the metaphysical. The plot was not something life altering to be honest. As the book sketches out the picture of a small railway town forgotten to man, the plot almost follows in suit. It is nothing special. You would probably miss it unless you were actively looking for it. But I think there lies the beauty of this novel. In its simplicity, it really captured the human experience. Grazina really resonated with me. I felt her depth, labor, and casual acts of kindness. The book is filled with beautiful quotes that resonate wisdom and beauty. The message I recieved through Hai's relationship to Sony, Grazina, his mom, and all the rest of the characters Hai plays a part in; is that kindness prevails always. Even when it is suggestable and mildly suspicious, the innocent intent to offer ease for the other character has a ray of warmth to it. I gave it three stars because sometimes the plot withered and if you are not in the right mindset to accept the beautiful message it carried, it can be difficult to pick up again.