Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, How to Become a WWE Star and our BookBrowse Review of The Emperor of Gladness.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
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There are two epigraphs that open the book—one quotation spoken by Hamlet about the death of Polonius in Hamlet, and an excerpt from the Wallace Stevens poem "The Emperor of Ice Cream" about the true reality of death. What does the inclusion of these epigraphs invite you to think about? What do they suggest about the cycles of life and death in the novel? As Hai moves through the four seasons in the four different sections of the book, how do the recurring reminders of cyclicality affect your thinking about the fate of the characters?
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Hai's immigration story begins with the "ruinous wasteland" left after the American War in Vietnam, and continues with his mother and grandmother working to make sure he was thefirst in his family to go to college (p. 81). Hai tells Grazina that he used to dream about writinga "novel that held everything [he] loved, including unlovable things" (p. 35), a dream that islater described as a "bigger life" that he never achieved. How is the American dream portrayed through Hai's immigration story—is it achievable, and for whom? How does Grazina's immigration story from Lithuania relate to the American dream?
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Grazina tells Hai that "[t]o be alive and try to be a decent person, and not turn it into anything big or grand ... is enough" (p. 251). Grazina's perspective on enough is partly informed by the fact that she had everything, and lost it in World War II. What do you think the novel is saying about whether or not dreams can come true for these characters? What do you think the novel is saying about social class considering that the main characters are all struggling to make ends meet? What is enough for them?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin Press.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.