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booksbecreads's review against another edition
3.0
"A man is not like a cat that you can leave to its own entertainment "
ciska's review against another edition
4.0
*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*
Author
Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing, China and moved to the United States in 1996. She received an MFA from Iowa Writers' Workshop and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She was recently selected as one of Granta's 21 Best of Young American Novelists. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their two sons, and teaches at University of California, Davis.
Review
If you follow me for a while you know I do not often read books that are set in the East. I am not sure why but they hardly ever catch my attention. The title of this one caught my eye and I could not forget about seeing this one. I became curious about the accident and what exactly happened.
I started the book late one night planning just to read a few pages but that did not really work out well. I was pulled in and could not stop. The atmosphere is great and the writing is very nice. There is one problem with this book and though it did not disturb me as I got the feeling it was done on purpose I can imagine people will not like it. It was not easy to connect to the characters.
I liked the teenager Moran but did not understand the adult Moran. Ruyu is easy to follow and understand but not a very likeable person. Boyang is not really in the picture in the teenager years though he plays a critical part but is more important as an adult. Still I felt I missed crucial parts of the story to understand them and those parts did not come till the end of the book when it finally fell into place.
Author
Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing, China and moved to the United States in 1996. She received an MFA from Iowa Writers' Workshop and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She was recently selected as one of Granta's 21 Best of Young American Novelists. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their two sons, and teaches at University of California, Davis.
Review
If you follow me for a while you know I do not often read books that are set in the East. I am not sure why but they hardly ever catch my attention. The title of this one caught my eye and I could not forget about seeing this one. I became curious about the accident and what exactly happened.
I started the book late one night planning just to read a few pages but that did not really work out well. I was pulled in and could not stop. The atmosphere is great and the writing is very nice. There is one problem with this book and though it did not disturb me as I got the feeling it was done on purpose I can imagine people will not like it. It was not easy to connect to the characters.
I liked the teenager Moran but did not understand the adult Moran. Ruyu is easy to follow and understand but not a very likeable person. Boyang is not really in the picture in the teenager years though he plays a critical part but is more important as an adult. Still I felt I missed crucial parts of the story to understand them and those parts did not come till the end of the book when it finally fell into place.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
’The dead did not fade when they remained unacknowledged.’
This story, which moves between contemporary America and China around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, involves the lives of four people: Moran, Ruyu, Boyang and Shaoai. When Shaoai is poisoned, quite possibly by one of the other three, their lives move in different directions and they become separated. Moran and Ruyu move to the United States, while Boyang remains in China. Their lives and their capacity for connecting to others is blighted by what happened the day Shaoai was poisoned.
‘Places do not die or vanish, yet one can obliterate their existence, just as one can a lover from an ill-fated affair.’
As we follow the lives of Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang, wondering about what really happened, and about Shaoai’s lingering amongst the living for 20 years after being poisoned, it’s difficult not to think that each of the four have been dying as a consequence of the poisoning. And yet, while my overwhelming sense is of sadness and loss, there’s something beautiful in the way Yinyun Li tells this story. Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang each help others but cannot allow others to form attachments to them. Would their lives have been different if Shaoai had not been poisoned? Who poisoned Shaoai, and why?
There are many questions raised in this novel, and few clear-cut answers. For me, the actual events twenty years ago became less important than their continuing impact. This is a novel that has invited me to think about how lives are influenced and unfold. It is also a novel that I will want to reread at some stage.
‘One could easily trace a life lived in solitude.’
Note: my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This story, which moves between contemporary America and China around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, involves the lives of four people: Moran, Ruyu, Boyang and Shaoai. When Shaoai is poisoned, quite possibly by one of the other three, their lives move in different directions and they become separated. Moran and Ruyu move to the United States, while Boyang remains in China. Their lives and their capacity for connecting to others is blighted by what happened the day Shaoai was poisoned.
‘Places do not die or vanish, yet one can obliterate their existence, just as one can a lover from an ill-fated affair.’
As we follow the lives of Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang, wondering about what really happened, and about Shaoai’s lingering amongst the living for 20 years after being poisoned, it’s difficult not to think that each of the four have been dying as a consequence of the poisoning. And yet, while my overwhelming sense is of sadness and loss, there’s something beautiful in the way Yinyun Li tells this story. Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang each help others but cannot allow others to form attachments to them. Would their lives have been different if Shaoai had not been poisoned? Who poisoned Shaoai, and why?
There are many questions raised in this novel, and few clear-cut answers. For me, the actual events twenty years ago became less important than their continuing impact. This is a novel that has invited me to think about how lives are influenced and unfold. It is also a novel that I will want to reread at some stage.
‘One could easily trace a life lived in solitude.’
Note: my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
dreamofbookspines's review against another edition
2.0
Content warning: sexual abuse of children (mid-teenage years if that matters to you)
This book was lost on me. I couldn't care about any of the characters; they seemed very one dimensional. I think it's something to do with the narration style. It just didn't work for me. Also I found it deeply frustrating that the whole premise of the mystery is just that the narrator withholds information. Like, yeah, _somebody_ poisoned somebody, we get that. Get on with the telling already, quit drawing it out!
I found the entire book intensely boring. Not objectionable material per se, just a snorefest.
This book was lost on me. I couldn't care about any of the characters; they seemed very one dimensional. I think it's something to do with the narration style. It just didn't work for me. Also I found it deeply frustrating that the whole premise of the mystery is just that the narrator withholds information. Like, yeah, _somebody_ poisoned somebody, we get that. Get on with the telling already, quit drawing it out!
I found the entire book intensely boring. Not objectionable material per se, just a snorefest.
suadolaps's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
bahamyulala's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gracefulgracey's review against another edition
1.0
Not finished. Willl not finish. Because it's a bore
phyllis_lam's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
codexmendoza's review against another edition
5.0
I guess you could say I am really into books that center around a death. In this case, Kinder Than Solitude hinges on the slow death by poisoning of a young woman and the lives before and after of the three childhood playmates who were involved in it. If this sounds familiar, it's because it references the 1995 thalium poisoning of college student Zhu Ling. I didn't realize this until I described this book to my cousin—Actual Chinese Person—and she said "oh, this was a really famous case."
And to a certain extent, a lot of what the novel references (people being excited about powered orange juice and being happy about Communist rule) are maybe not totally acessible in the same way. After all, Li has described this novel as also being, in part, her love letter to Beijing where she grew up. And, as the title implies, this is a book about three adults who chose to remove themselves from family ties to be alone, which isn't really odd in America (to where two of them move) but is unusual for Chinese families where extended family is close—even across the Pacific. However, like most of Li's writing, this is also a book that refuses to be precious and strips away illusions and drama. It takes a central event from a long unsolved mystery and says "the interesting question isn't really why did this happen."
Other thoughts:
- still think the grenade throwing thing is a joke
- Shanghai > Beijing tho
And to a certain extent, a lot of what the novel references (people being excited about powered orange juice and being happy about Communist rule) are maybe not totally acessible in the same way. After all, Li has described this novel as also being, in part, her love letter to Beijing where she grew up. And, as the title implies, this is a book about three adults who chose to remove themselves from family ties to be alone, which isn't really odd in America (to where two of them move) but is unusual for Chinese families where extended family is close—even across the Pacific. However, like most of Li's writing, this is also a book that refuses to be precious and strips away illusions and drama. It takes a central event from a long unsolved mystery and says "the interesting question isn't really why did this happen."
Other thoughts:
- still think the grenade throwing thing is a joke
- Shanghai > Beijing tho