Wish list entry #14: "The Emperor of Gladness"

This past winter I happened to come across Abraham Verghese's novel, The Covenant of Water. I read it and, while long, I was quite taken by its scope, detail, and the believable humanity showcased in its characters. Oprah had chosen it for her book club, and I enjoyed the book so much that I ended up watching the videos of the podcast she and Verghese did together. It was likely from this viewing that the YouTube algorithm then put to the top of my suggestion list the video of Oprah's May book club entry, Ocean Vong's second novel, The Emperor of Gladness. 

Watching that video, it became clear that the story involved an elderly woman who, at the beginning of the novel, prevents the main character, Hai, from committing suicide by stopping him from jumping off a bridge in Gladness, CT. This woman, Grazina, is a Lithuanian immigrant in her early 80s, and living in relative poverty as she descends more deeply into dementia. Hai, himself a young immigrant from Vietnam, ends up serving as the caregiver for Grazina in her home. The two form an unlikely bond which, along with Hai's co-workers in a semi-fast food restaurant called "Home Market", covers the landscape of a what many reviewers have called the theme of found family. 

So, more on Grazina as a character. As the story takes place around 2011, Grazina recalls memories during World War II back in Lithuania, including confused, hallucination-like experiences of being entrenched in precarious scenarios of either battle or escape. Hai finds ways to sort of go along with this in order to redirect Grazina back to present day and either lucidity or sleep. There would be some interesting and challenging scenes for anyone who played Grazina in these states. The combination of illness and medication effect would almost require a sort of acting within the acting for any performer. It reminds me a bit of Violet Weston, and how Meryl has commented in interviews of how she was interested in what Violet's place was at any given moment in her pain cycle, and how that and the effect of drugs/medications would essentially define her mood. 

Grazina would likely be a lead character, as a good portion of the book is her interactions between her and Hai. There is also a heartbreaking series of scenes with her son and her son's family, which may be an indictment of American values as it pertains to caring for our elders. Hai is of course at the center of the story, and would likely be played by a twenty-something actor of Vietnamese descent. This role in itself would be a wonderful opportunity for any young performer, as would the gaggle of characters who would make up Hai's coworkers at Home Market. 

What would be the plausibility of this coming to fruition? Maybe low likelihood, but with the novel's visibility from it having been an Oprah book selection, as well as the fact that it has some enticing elements (strained family ties, themes related to the opioid epidemic, the aforementioned state of elder care) and roles for underrepresented characters (immigrants, Asian-Americans, gay characters, women over 70). As mentioned, Grazina is in her early 80s, so it may not be as likely for Meryl to do it like next year (and edit: I failed to mention when this went to post that I picture it working best as a limited series). But realistically, as long as it were clear that the story takes place in the early 2010s, she could do it anytime. It is far from a glamorous role, so I think Meryl would relish the transformation. And lord knows I'm a sucker for a new accent! 

P.S. Remember when Meryl sort of offhandedly mentioned at Cannes last year that she had just bought the rights to something that was in development? Yes, this was a full year before Gladness was even published, and I feel like there would have been something announced by now (especially with the Oprah interviews with Vuong), but sometimes there's buzz about new novels, the rights to which could be snatched up early. Regardless, maybe at the very least Meryl has her eye out for great stories that are ripe for the plucking. 

Let's keep our eyes on this one.