A welcome surprise. It is a sweet, charming, conventional novel whose ambition does not outstrip its ability ... What a pleasure to be given characters and a plot! ... The author finally seems to have accepted that prose, unlike poetry, will wither and die without a reader who can actually understand it: At last, he is talking to us.
Magnificent and melancholy ... Its opening pages are as melodic as a symphony ... This is a novel that percolates and simmers, provoking questions about the reader’s privilege while prompting awe at the writer’s singular empathy—and his subjects’ humility.
There is a terrific ripeness to the pages of The Emperor of Gladness that sometimes edges into bruising ... There are trenchant observations ... The dialogue does a lot for the story—maybe too much.
[A] miraculous lack of sentimentality .... Vuong's s gifts of writerly restraint also keep things real ... There are pages of wry and often compassionate catalogues here describing the routines of Hai and his fellow workers, as well as the drugs they take to get through the pain and exhaustion of those routines ... The Emperor of Gladness is a truly great novel about work—still an under-acknowledged topic in American fiction ... 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.
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 ... True and gritty, The Emperor of Gladness is almost voyeuristic in how it looks into the most intimate and human moments of people’s lives, reflecting back on the reader and leaving plenty to ponder.
Marks a point of ambitious expansion in Vuong’s body of work ... At its best, The Emperor of Gladness resonates with the quiet, highly attentive energy of lush, secretive spaces. Marginal voices of numerous kinds seem to occupy its peripheries, offering us stories that could come only from the outskirts.
Ocean Vuong’s books are enormously popular but it’s hard to see why. He is often an incompetent writer of prose and his plots are sentimental mush ... The prose alternates between a flat accounting...and a shockingly ham-fisted lyricism ... The publisher’s blurb praises Vuong’s 'syntactical dexterity', which must be an in-house joke—unless they really can’t tell ... His prose wants you to feel; it certainly doesn’t want you to perceive. It is, of course, Vuong’s own literary vision that is sightless ... Did nobody actually read this book before it went to print? ... Back in the 20th century American literary prose was the gold standard. In the 21st century it is starting to look like a grotesquely inflated currency.
An admirable compliment to his 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 ... This novel explores a variety of themes that fit together like puzzle pieces ... His prose often forces you to look up from the page to fully absorb them and remember where you really are, a different time, or whatever we’re calling America in 2025—a place that feels like a really long way from home.
We get cheesy generalizations and implausible portraits of little men and women shining bravely in defiance of shitty odds ... You can hear the swell of the violins on every third page. The novel, as a whole, is regrettably infected by cinema ... It is clear that some of the novel is meant to be funny, but the jokes are mostly crude, cartoonish or just a bit limp ... I have made this novel sound more coherent in the retelling. In real time, it often seems as if Vuong is making things up as he goes along
Heartbreaking, heartwarming yet unsentimental, and savagely comic all at the same time, The Emperor of Gladness is about just how wobbly things can become.
A gorgeous testament to love, loss, and an undying hope for a second chance ... Vuong’s immense talent with words means a world tucked away in rural America becomes one that you can touch, taste, and smell. He navigates Hai’s family troubles, addiction, and mental health issues with grace, empathy, and passion. The literary formalities bend to his will; his brilliance dances across the pages. You will tear through this book, craving more of that specific reading experience that only Vuong can give you.
