The book follows an author who had a devastating life when her two sons decided to leave the land of the living forever. There is quietness in how things go, quite devastating, but its subtlety signifies a moment where nothing seems to have happened, yet for a few their life has forever changed.
Author Yiyun Li captures the subtlety and the transient nature of grief quite remarkably. She went through the phases, and all of it is written down with remarkable emotion. It is a mother coming to terms with her life, and perhaps she might have been feeling much as I do while she was writing the book.
There are several undercurrents within the story with her sons. They essentially form parts of the novel, as the author uses their words and their lived experiences to motivate the narrative. Each of these moments allows us to take a peek inside their lives, the people they are and the process of becoming one. There is a brutal understanding with which they are self-aware and do not shy away from tackling hard questions, allowing us to take a closer look as they critique their world and their mortality.
There are some moments where the author goes back into her childhood, ruminating and projecting her past experiences onto the life she found herself in post-tragedy. There are lessons she carried over from her past which influenced her life and the way she parented her children. It forms a major part of the narrative, as it motivated her to see her children as more than what they constitute on their surface and to reflect on herself.
Prose where it is just the author and her thoughts, a monologue which extends well beyond the book to one’s heart, is the book’s strength. She relentlessly puts herself on the spot, commenting on her thoughts about aspects of her life which she has to face post-tragedy her grief, her life as a mother, an attempt to understand her sons as more than allegories to their desires, and the friends that influenced her life.
If there is a minor quibble, I would have appreciated more of her writing on her husband, who is always a strong figure in her life.
It is a book written with a deep sense of affection. The last few chapters are a homage to the short lives of her sons. The author tips her hat to this chapter of life, and while they might always be part of her, she lets it go as the world turns.
by Sunapr1