A review by gilmoreguide
Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li

2.0

A trio of friends haunted by a mysterious accident are the key characters in Yiyun Li’s new novel, Kinder Than Solitude. They all live within the same housing compound in Beijing, where life moves along without much disturbance, until an older girl living in one of their houses is overcome by a mysterious illness that later turns out to be chemical poisoning. She is not killed outright but her system is damaged irreparably, leaving her to die slowly over the next several decades with the mental acuity of a child and limited physical abilities. This mystery is the premise of the novel as Li writes of the characters from past to present. For Boyang and Moran their possible complicity in the poisoning colors the way they deal with their lives as adults. For Ruyu, a newcomer, there is no such confusion. A young orphan, raised by two older women who are fervent practitioners of their own version of Catholicism, she is preternaturally composed but whether this is her nature or her upbringing is unclear.

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