The Emperor of Gladness
by Ocean Vuong
- 33 Want to read
- 3 Have read
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.
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Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Adult, Poetry, Mental Health| Edition | Availability |
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Book Details
First Sentence
"The hardest thing in the world is to live only once."
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- Created February 17, 2025
- 8 revisions
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| January 18, 2026 | Edited by Damian Pavlis | //covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/15162573-S.jpg |
| January 18, 2026 | Edited by Damian Pavlis | Update covers |
| November 28, 2025 | Edited by Darren Brockes | There's no "A Novel" subtitle. |
| November 16, 2025 | Edited by Popi | add descrip |
| February 17, 2025 | Created by ImportBot | import new book |