The Emperor of Gladness

Poet Vuong follows up his acclaimed first novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, with a searching and beautiful story of a troubled young man. “The hardest thing in the world is to live only once,” 19-year-old Hai narrates in the opening line, but there’s a dark edge to the sentiment. The reader first meets Hai on a bridge in East Gladness, Conn., where he’s about to jump to his death. He’s stopped by Grazina, an 82-year-old Lithuanian woman. She invites him to stay with her, and as her dementia worsens, he cares for her—feeding her, bathing her, and administering medicine. The experience soothes Hai: “How strange to feel something so close to mercy... at the end of a road of ruined houses by a toxic river.” Hai tells his mother he is attending medical school, but in fact, shortly before meeting Grazina, he was released from rehab for opioid addiction. Now, while staying with the older woman, he takes a job at the restaurant where his cousin works, and pops Dilaudids “to hold him over” during shifts. Vuong’s scenes are vivid, and the pitch-perfect dialogue cuts like a knife (“Never cry in a diner,” Grazina tells Hai. “They charge extra if they catch you. Believe me. I’ve seen it happen”). This downbeat tale soars to astonishing heights. Agent: Frances Coady, Aragi Inc. (May)