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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li
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