Recommended reading: The Emperor of Gladness
«The Emperor of Gladness» follows Hai, a college dropout struggling with an opioid addiction, who decides one evening to jump off the bridge of his decrepit, forgotten hometown East Gladness. Before he can make the jump, however, an elderly woman named Grazina shouts at him from across the river to get off the bridge.
Ocean Vuong. The Emperor of Gladness. Jonathan Cape. 2025. Bild ZVG
The two decide to save each other, with Hai caring for Grazina as her dementia gradually eats at her memories, and with Grazina showing Hai that he must reconcile with his mother before it is too late.
Vuong is surprisingly lighthearted in «The Emperor of Gladness». There is an entire cast of scruffy yet plucky characters that flesh out the world of the novel. However, don’t let Vuong’s playful character-building fool you. At the heart of «The Emperor of Gladness» lies Vuong’s never-ending conversation with grief: his own, yours, or an unidentifiable sorrow that continues to press itself onto the world’s chest. But with this novel, it seems as if more than ten years of writing have finally taught Vuong how to temper his sadness and present it to readers when it matters most. Long stretches of dialogue and streams of consciousness will lull you into a deceptive calm – until a catastrophic moment lands with the force of a blow. A quiet devastation will sneak up on you, and even the most emotionally guarded of readers will find themselves coming undone.
Ocean Vuong. The Emperor of Gladness. Jonathan Cape. 2025. Bild ZVG
Informationen: www.opfikon.ch/stadtbibliothek
