Ostensibly very similar novels. Both are semi-autobiographical stories from the early adulthood of poets (turn novelists) struggling with addiction and their American/foreign identity. They both follow depressed young men lacking a sense of purpose and trying to start writing but caught up in the tedium of work and relationships.
Vuong’s novel follows Hai who is living with Grazina, an old lady helping her through the throes of dementia while working at a fast food restaurant with an interesting cast of characters. The story largely follows the relationship between Hai and Grazina and his cousin/coworker Sony’s attempts to make bail for his mother and afford a trip to visit his father.
Emperor of Gladness examines the struggles and expectations of immigrants along with the struggles of work in the service industry. Nearly every character has a sad backstory and often some dream deferred from illness, medical bills, or general financial instability. There can be no expectations of happy ending from Vuong (hardly a spoiler) but there’s a wonderful sense of beauty in the mundane moments and shared burdens.
This is certainly a more stylistically mature novel than “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” but also feels less urgent and personal. Still very enjoyable.
Akbar’s novel follows Cyrus, a young man in recovery attempting to write a novel about martyrdom. He is first occupied by the famous religious martyrs along with his experience of growing up as an Iranian-American in the 2000s. These feelings are enhanced by the death of his mother on Iran Flight 655 and his day job as a medical actor. He is largely preoccupied with death and generally unable to cope with both death and general uncertainty.
His feelings about martyrdom change upon meeting with an artist whose last exhibit is to put herself on display as she dies of cancer. Throughout this section, more information about his mother and uncle unfold in the context of the Iranian revolution. The unfolding of these two storylines make up the last third of the book and are fairly propulsive.
It didn’t quite work for me. All of the characters seemed to try to hard to liked and to explain their grand struggle and bad behaviors. They ended up feeling a bit flat and overwrought. Many of the ideas presented felt underdeveloped and presented as over profound. It’s not an entirely unsuccessful first novel, but it really felt like a first novel.