While I loved many of the characters and was fond of the plot, I found that I didn't really enjoy the reading experience overall.

Ocean Vuong has, to this day, one of the most powerful and evocative writing styles I have ever read - their words just seem to hit me in my soul. This new title is just as stunning. I would give it 6 stars if I could

The unlikely bond between two souls who have had their fair share of difficulties.
Hai and Grazina show us what hurting and survival mean.
Well written and great example of literature.

i love ocean vuong's works, i have read everything he has written and i don't even know how i love every single one of them and like no other, this too is an instant 5 star.
the plot tackles so many heavy topic but the story flows like water, and it flows you with it, and i am really grateful zadie smith for encouraging him to write it.

Ocean Vuong's latest novel, The Emperor of Gladness is much anticipated and already much lauded in advance praise. Vuong is a genuine talent, and reading this you get the real sense of a novelist flexing his literary muscles, widening his scope beyond the intimate focus which made up his debut, 2019's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.

Hai is a 19 year old, a drop-out drug addict in the town of East Gladness. He moves in with Grazina, an elderly Lithuanian immigrant with dementia, and so begins a reflective tale that discusses many themes, to create a novel that feels both broad and focussed. Vuong is a beautiful writer - he is also a published poet - and there is a rich texture to the language.

I took my time with this novel - it is one to read slowly - and I became fully engaged with life in East Gladness - and felt somewhat bereft when the novel had finished. This fine novel will continue to be lauded, I'm sure, and is the perfect novel for book clubs etc to discuss and tease out the themes of.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

3.5 rounded up

What happens when you escape a war-torn country only to find yourself in another, one that does not care if you live or die, that seems determined to suck away your life force? This is one of the central themes explored in Vuong’s second novel which follows Hai, a 19 year old college dropout struggling with opiate addiction. He moves in with elderly Grazina, a Lithuanian immigrant with dementia, acting as her carer in exchange for a place to live.

Hai gets a job at Homemarket, (btw this is how I found out Boston Market went out of business?? RIP) a fast-casual chain restaurant staffed by a diverse cast of characters including his autistic cousin Sony.

Hai is truly adrift, obliterated by grief and shame, numbing himself with pills. He spends the book floating through life, making poignant observations along the way but unable to find a way to be okay.

War is ever-present, from Hai and Grazina’s backgrounds, Sony’s obsession with the Civil war, and the war in Afghanistan fueled by poor young bodies that get spat back out when the military industrial complex no longer has use for them.

This is not an easy read in a lot of ways, the prose beautiful but dense and there is a bleakness that brief moments of light never manage to alleviate. At times it felt like there was too much going on. Certain threads didn’t feel as developed as others, such as the cold murder case and the day spent at a slaughterhouse.

I still felt very moved by the impoverished New England setting, the industrial decay contrasted with the beauty of the natural world. Hai’s connection to Grazina, Sony and his co-workers at Homemarket all felt lifelike and dimensional. This is a novel about the invisible; poor immigrants, food service workers, the disabled, and the elderly, and the constant low-level violence of poverty that slowly grinds them down.

It’s not a page-turner in the traditional sense, but the depth of the ideas makes it worth sticking with. You’ll come away with more questions than answers, in the best way. Great for book clubs or slow, deliberate reading.

Much like Vuong's debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, this book is beautifully written. The words flow off the page and are lyrical and mesmerising. However, it is very slow paced and at times felt quite difficult to digest and read as it is very word heavy if that makes any sense. Vuong is such a talented writer, every sentence is quotable and poetic and I know that this book will be an instant classic and an instant favourite for so many people. For me personally, whilst I adored the writing, it was a very slow burn and kind of dragged on a bit. This is definitely a book that you need to sit with and take your time to read.

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