The Emperor of Gladness

"The banal sentence, “This is the best novel I’ve read in years,” captures what I’ve told friends about The Emperor of Gladness – 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."