A review by criticalgayze
Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I started my Thanksgiving break with some local Atlanta-area bookstores, where I picked this one up from a store called Bookish. After a couple of years of struggling with the Booker and National Book Awards lists, I have been reconsidering if and which book prizes are something I want to give my time to. I think I have landed on trying the PEN/Jean Stein book award and the University of London’s Goldsmiths Prize, and this book was the 2020 winner for the former award. It also happened to fit into my “motherhood” reading. All of this made me pick it up, and I’m glad it did because it was the first year end favorite that I’ve read since I finished Justin Torres’s Blackouts in the middle of September. This is a beautiful book that explores loss and language, both of which have been powerful themes for me this year. I love everything that Yiyun Li has done here, and in a year that has seen a lot of inner turmoil for me personally, it is a nice reminder that art and love can still come from periods of suffering.