The Emperor of Gladness
The Emperor of GladnessOcean Vuong
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The Emperor of Gladness (2025)

Ocean Vuong

Others: Positive

One 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 alter Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.

ISBN:
9780593831878
Length:
416 pages

Genres: literary fiction, poetry

Lists: …

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