The Emperor of Gladness
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Started reading October 14, 2025
13%
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The two stopped and listened, their heads angled in attention, truly believing that the worst, both here and elsewhere, was over. It was the kind of day where anything felt possible. As if the charity of the world had tipped, finally, to one side of the rusted scale. The kind of day where you can fill in your scars with Magic Marker and tell yourself you’re normal—and it might be true.
20%
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The folks who made up the crew were just like people anywhere else in New England. Weatherworn and perennially exhausted or pissed off or both.
22%
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“What’s an army anywhere but a bunch of state-sanctioned mass shooters funded by our tax dollars?”
32%
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Some of our leaders are even lizards in disguise. I mean, how else do you explain Dick Cheney?
50%
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These “people” included Linda McMahon—co-founder of WWE—who was currently running as a Republican for a Connecticut Senate seat. She was rumored to have ordered thirty of these hogs for a Christmas fundraiser she was hosting at her mansion in Stamford, where wrestling superstars were supposed to attend.
Imani
omg Linda is now secretary of education
51%
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She stared at him, blank-faced, before lurching forward to release a spray of vomit onto the hog’s back. She reached down and gathered some dead leaves and half-heartedly rubbed the sludge off the animal. She waved Hai off, then wiped her face on her shirtsleeve, removed one of the Altoids from her nose, popped it in her mouth, and hobbled back to the barn.
Imani
what the hell
53%
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Berkshyer. In England. This place had some of the finest pork in the world. And when England was trying to get into Japan—you know, to do missionary shit or whatever—they tried to win over the emperor by giving him these Berkshire hogs. Well,” Wayne licked his lips, “the emperor was so amazed by the flavor of these hogs, so rich with fat, sweet and juicy, he flung his doors wide open. And that’s how Christianity came to Japan.
59%
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“No, I didn’t outlive Stalin to be depressed.” She shook her head defiantly. “You kids blame everything on feelings. Do you blame starvation on feelings too? Floods? Earthquakes?”