The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong is an ambitious and wide in scope novel centered on human connections, second chances and resilience.

The Emperor of Gladness is a haunting, poetic novel that explores the unexpected relationship between Hai, a 19-year-old adrift in grief, and Grazina, an 82-year-old widow slipping into dementia. Ocean Vuong weaves their story with his signature lyrical prose, immersing the reader in a landscape marked by emotional desolation and small, radiant moments of connection. Set in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, the novel moves between memories and present moments with fluid grace, revealing how two seemingly distant lives can intersect and offer each other a strange kind of salvation.

At its core, the novel is about memory—how it fades, how it persists, and how it shapes the way we survive. Vuong doesn’t shy away from pain or violence; instead, he lets it echo through the silences of his characters, letting gesture and glance say what words often can’t. Yet amidst this sorrow, there’s an undercurrent of radical tenderness. Hai’s decision to care for Grazina becomes not just an act of compassion but a reclamation of his own fractured identity. The Emperor of Gladness is a deeply felt meditation on generational trauma, queer identity, and the quiet, transformative power of empathy.

The Emperor of Gladness follows Hai who is nineteen and a college dropout. In the town of East Gladness, Hai is on a bridge about to jump when he sees someone shout across the river. Grazina is the one who shouted and she is an elderly widow with dementia. Grazina invites Hai to live with her and the two develop a powerful bond.

This was so beautiful and I loved it so much. It’s a slow novel that creeps up on you. Ocean Vuong has a real gift when it comes to writing and I have no quotes picked out from this book because the whole book is quotable. Every page drips with emotion and the whole book is just beautiful. This book made me happy and sad at the same time. I really understood Hai and why he did certain things and the bond between Hai and Grazina was beautiful. I also loved the bond between Hai and his coworkers. There was also some subtle dark humour in this which I loved. This author is incredibly talented and I cannot wait to see what he does next. I will definitely buy a physical copy of this and I will recommend this to everyone I know. I feel like I lost part of my soul to this book and I do not know how to properly articulate my feelings. This is definitely a contender for my favourite book of the year.

This was a book I really enjoyed. Both the main characters were so unusual and an unlikely pair but their connection really leaped off the page