{"product_id":"the-emperor-of-gladness-oprahs-book-club","title":"The Emperor of Gladness: Oprah's Book Club","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eOcean Vuong\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collections \n\u003ci\u003eNight Sky with Exit Wounds\u003c\/i\u003e and \n\u003ci\u003eTime Is a Mother\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as the \n\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling novel \n\u003ci\u003eOn Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous\u003c\/i\u003e. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the American Book Award, he was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and currently splits his time between western Massachusetts and New York City. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is his latest novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A sprawling tale of self-discovery and chosen family, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is a deeply sympathetic look at a disenfranchised young man learning how to care for himself and others.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eTIME, \u003c\/i\u003eA Must-Read Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vuong's protagonist, Hai, is a drug-addicted college dropout living in the fictional town of East Gladness, Connecticut. After he forms an unlikely bond with an elderly widow from Lithuania, whose house he moves into, he begins working at a fast-food restaurant, HomeMarket, where all of the employees are, like him, searching for some kind of home. The novel brims with feeling for these figures, who, though scorned by society, belong to it nonetheless.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Magnificent . . . Vuong is a lauded poet whose paragraphs are shot through with sentences that enthrall and often land with a philosopher's wisdom and economy . . . In writing [ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e], Vuong may have joined the ranks of an elite few great novelists, but his perspective remains rooted in that Connecticut town where he got his start.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eLeigh Haber, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"On the surface, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is about people on the margins and how they survive hardship, but it's also a story of how contradictions often exist in conjunction. War and loss run through the pages of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness, \u003c\/i\u003e but so do love and joy. Estrangement ripples through the novel too, yet \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e celebrates profound connections . . . Soulful and at times heart-wrenching.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"In [ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e] Ocean Vuong blends grief, healing, and resilience into a powerful and poetic narrative.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePBS NewsHour \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"What are the stories we must share with each other in order to endure, and persist? How do our rituals and litanies sustain us, even as our lives splinter off from the expectations of main roads? Doesn't our despair shape our gratitude? . . . Vuong, like this novel, is full of multitudes, a talented novelist who is poetic to the depth of his double-helix.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBrooklyn Rail\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e has all the poetic meditations and lyricism of Vuong's \n\u003ci\u003eOn Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous\u003c\/i\u003e, but with a lovable cast of found family characters that practically leap off the page.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is a truly great novel about work--still an under-acknowledged topic in American fiction. Hard work is supposed to get you somewhere--that's part of the promise of America. But the pay-off feels much less certain to these characters . . . Vuong's achingly austere artistic vision leaves it to his readers to imagine the better world he won't let himself depict on the pages of this wonderful novel.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eMaureen Corrigan, \u003ci\u003eFresh Air\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"An admirable compliment to [Vuong's] resume of work and widens his stance as an artist that continues to provide irreplaceable commentary on American life, speaking not to his readers, but through . . . \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is a reminder that to be an American, no matter how or why you got here, is to be a product of something else. Vuong writes for the very real and individual lives that exist within the blur of an average day . . . A reader's high is imminent with Vuong . . . His prose often forces you to look up from the page to fully absorb them and remember where you really are.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e takes existentialism to a deeply intimate level, leaving the reader to contemplate what it is to live in a messy, complicated world of wars, addiction, class struggles and good people looking for second chances . . . We piece together the characters' stories the way you would with real people in real life; through snippets that build atop each other until you can patch together a narrative of the relationships that left the biggest scars and the events that had profound impacts. Vuong achieves more by writing beside his characters than one would by writing a straightforward story about them. True and gritty.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAssociated Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Heartbreaking, heartwarming yet unsentimental, and savagely comic all at the same time.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Vuong defies easy categorization. His books, whether they deploy line breaks or paragraphs, tend to root around among life's mundane intimacies for the profound truths of human connection. It's true here too in Vuong's second novel.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eNPR.org\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"The banal sentence, 'This is the best novel I've read in years, ' captures what I've told friends about \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e - which is that Ocean Vuong's gorgeous prose makes every line I've ever written seem wan by comparison. 'Best novel I've read in years'? How insipid! This book tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a college dropout and an elderly woman with dementia. It paints a picture of the bond that forms among workers at a fast-food restaurant in a small New England town. And writing these sentences, all I can think is - Vuong would phrase it so much more beautifully.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003eAri Shapiro, \u003ci\u003eAll Things Considered\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Unremittingly gorgeous . . . Vuong again deftly walks a tightrope between despair and hope, heartache and love. For Vuong, fiction is a moral instrument, and he plays it with the practiced hand of a virtuoso . . . [He] vividly evokes the beauty of the depressed, post-industrial town in scene-setting descriptions that channel Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town.' . . . We're told that no one stops in East Gladness, but readers will be stopped in their tracks by Vuong's imagery.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eHeller McAlpin, \u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Ocean Vuong crafts a story of intergenerational connection--of labor, love, memory, and care--while bridging the intimate and the epic, the lyric and the narrative . . . \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is a testament to the ways we find--and carve out--a sense of home in one another. As he has continually done in his work for the last decade, Vuong insists on the radical possibilities of tenderness and communion, and on our ability to remain in awe of this world even as our lives and the structures we rely on may be fracturing. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e offers readers a special gift: the practice of looking carefully at the world around us, and at the people who surround us, with more meaning and care.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoets \u0026amp; Writers\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"How members of this 'new' and 'old' working class interact--amid shared economic hardship, fraying family and community ties, but with the life raft of workplace friendship to sustain them--is beautifully rendered . . . [Hai and Grazina's] partnership of convenience becomes a deep cross-generational friendship, rooted in hilariously disjointed discussions of life, history, great books, and their shared experience of family estrangement.\" \n\u003cb\u003e --\u003ci\u003eJacobin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In a country whose self-mythology is predicated on a reductive narrative of success and upward mobility, [ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e] is a loving recognition of Americans in drive-through towns who might be dreaming, but are mostly just trying to find dignity in survival. Standing still, getting through a shift, spending long and solitary nights in an unheated house. Enduring is more than enough; in \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e, it becomes resplendent . . . Vuong is a great American novelist in perhaps the most American way possible--imperfectly, personally, shamelessly.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eBloomberg Weekend\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Magisterial, precise and mythic in its resonance.\"-- \n\u003cb\u003ePhoebe Farrell-Sherman, \u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Poet Vuong follows up his acclaimed first novel, \n\u003ci\u003eOn Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous\u003c\/i\u003e, with a searching and beautiful story of a troubled young man . . . Vuong's scenes are vivid, and the pitch-perfect dialogue cuts like a knife . . . This downbeat tale soars to astonishing heights.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[E]xploring themes of war and labor--their wretchedness, their dignity--Vuong's epic-feeling novel is a determined portrait of community, caretaking, and characters who, if they only have each other, have quite a lot.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[A]mbitious . . . The references to \n\u003ci\u003eSlaughterhouse-Five \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Brothers Karamazov \u003c\/i\u003eunderscore Vuong's interest in exploring war and morality, but this is remarkable as a novel that tries to look at those themes outside of conventional realism or combat porn . . . A sui generis take on the surprising and cruel ways violence is passed on across generations.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is a poetic, dramatic and vivid story. Epic in its sweep, the novel also handles intimacy and love with delicacy and deep originality. Hai and Grazina are taken from the margins of American life by Ocean Vuong and, by dint of great sympathy and imaginative genius, placed at the very center of our world.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eColm Tóibín, author of \u003ci\u003eLong Island\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBrooklyn\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Tender and moving, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e is about people on the margins of society and sanity. To my surprise and delight, Vuong's novel is also wryly, subtly, wittily--and sometimes outrageously--a comedy as well as a tragedy.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eRebecca Solnit, author of \u003ci\u003eA Field Guide to Getting Lost\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRecollections of My Nonexistence\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"A masterwork.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eBryan Washington, author of \u003ci\u003ePalaver\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFamily Meal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe instant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller - Oprah's Book Club Pick - Named a Best Book of 2025 by \u003ci\u003eTIME\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e, NPR, \u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Scientific American, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e - Winner of the Nautilus Book Award - Longlisted for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of society, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive.\" --Oprah Winfrey \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOcean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThe hardest thing in the world is to live only once\u003c\/i\u003e... \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai's relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFollowing the cycles of history, memory, and time, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of Gladness\u003c\/i\u003e shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong's writing--formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness--are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life's most fleeting mercies: a second chance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/01\/2025 (EAN 9780593831878, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/10\/2025 (EAN 9780593831878, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2025 pg. 30 (EAN 9780593831878, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/23\/2025 (EAN 9780593831878, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2025 pg. 30 (EAN 9780593831885, Other) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496241824022,"sku":"9780593831878","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780593831878.jpg?v=1783057984","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-emperor-of-gladness-oprahs-book-club","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}