A review by joek226
Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

A unique read from Yiyun Li, I’ve heard high praise for her writing from both my sister as well as online, unfortunately this book really wasn’t for me, but I won’t judge her entire body of work negatively due to one book I didn’t agree with. This book, in my opinion, has its high points when it’s expanding on the relationship between the three main characters, unfortunately that’s about it. Almost every character in this book is an abhorrent human being that views emotions or attachments of any kind as a sign of weakness/stupidity. They all believe themselves to be far superior to all those around them due to the fact that they’ve killed off all human aspects of their being. Any time the author would delve into what the characters thought process was at a given time, I would immediately get pulled out of the book due to an inability to relate to any of the main characters (and about 90% of the side characters as well) as I could not see myself feeling this cold towards the world.