September Book Club - Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
September is many things. The beginning of autumn, a return to routine, and ESEA Heritage Month, a time to think about where we come from, the places we’ve inherited and the ones we’ve made home.
So in September, we’re reading The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
Date and Time: Saturday 19 September, 11am-1pm
Location: Central London
About the book
Set in a small Connecticut town, the novel begins when 19-year-old Hai, a Vietnamese American on the edge of taking his own life, meets Grazina, an elderly Lithuanian immigrant living with dementia. What follows is an unlikely friendship and a story about care, work, migration, memory and the people who build lives in places far from where their stories began.
For ESEA Heritage Month, we wanted a book that lets us explore roots and diaspora beyond a simple story of identity. What does it mean to inherit a history you didn’t live through? What happens to home across generations? How do class, labour and migration shape the lives we are able to make for ourselves?
And, because it’s Ocean Vuong, expect beautiful writing, strange tenderness and probably several sentences we’ll need to stare at for a while.
Come read with us. 🤍
Available from Kobo from £5.99. 409 pages
Direct all questions to eseabookclub@gmail.com.
🎟️ Tickets are £3 under our new format and help cover facilitation costs. Tickets are non-refundable, so please consider carefully before purchasing.
🍵 Refreshments: Drinks and snacks are not included. As a courtesy to the café hosting us, please purchase a drink or snack.
🤐 Spoiler alert: We strongly encourage you to read the book before attending, as the discussion will include spoilers.
👥 Who this space is for: This book club is reserved for women, trans, non-binary, and genderqueer folk. We're keeping the group small at no more than a dozen readers.