Ocean Vuong: "The Emperor Of Gladness" | Oprah's Book Club

Subscribe: @oprah In this episode of Oprah’s Book Club: Presented by Starbucks, Oprah sits down with acclaimed author Ocean Vuong to discuss his much-anticipated new novel, The Emperor of Gladness. Chosen as the 114th Oprah’s Book Club selection, The Emperor of Gladness reveals the many ways love, labor and loneliness show up in American life. The novel begins on a summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, where nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge ready to jump. An elderly widow suffering from dementia intervenes and the unlikely pair form a life-altering bond. In this episode, Ocean discusses this deeply personal narrative and his gift of illuminating the fullness of humanity in the most ordinary of places. Oprah and Ocean are joined by a live audience in a Starbucks Café in Chicago, enjoying the Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, layered with flavors of brown sugar, cinnamon and Starbucks® Blonde Espresso Roast. BUY THE BOOK! The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong https://amzn.to/4wLsKQm To find all of the Oprah’s Book Club selections and 30 of Oprah’s most memorable reads, visit: http://www.amazon.com/obc 00:00:00 - Welcome Ocean Vuong, author of The Emperor of Gladness 00:02:05 - Where Ocean Vuong’s creativity comes from 00:03:00 - Ocean’s reaction to getting Oprah’s phone call 00:05:17 - How Oprah’s Book Club affected Ocean’s life 00:06:50 - How Ocean became a celebrated writer 00:10:50 - How Ocean created his characters 00:13:20 - The importance of kindness 00:17:34 - Ocean explains how writing is about listening, not making 00:19:08 - How does Ocean overlap with his main character Hai 00:23:14 - Oprah asks about the friendship between Hai and Grazina 00:28:35 - Ocean addresses the idea of living only once 00:31:22 - How the idea for The Emperor of Gladness began 00:34:30 - What draws Ocean to write about small towns? 00:37:57 - Ocean talks about how a character can take over in the writing process 00:39:54 - How Ocean views writer’s block 00:40:29 - Oprah shares what part of the book resonated with her 00:45:07 - The theme of labor in the book 00:46:01 - Ocean addresses the meaning and theme of ‘Emperor’ in the book 00:48:37 - Why many of the characters struggle with depression 00:52:00 - How losing his mother has changed Ocean’s perspective 00:52:48 - Ocean’s book ends with what he wanted to say to his mother on her deathbed Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: Instagram: oprah Facebook: oprahwinfrey https://www.tiktok.com/@oprah?lang=en Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfN... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... #oprahsbookclub