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Kinder Than Solitude (2014)

by Yiyun Li(Favorite Author)

3.22 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1400068142 (ISBN13: 9781400068142)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Random House

review 1: This story was intriguing with a unique setting and perspective. I was engaged with the ideas of the story, but in the end it did not hang together. The characters were interesting, but absolutely no evolution of the characters. No "aha" moment, no enlightenment or increased understanding between the characters. Disappointing. I will not give up on this author. I saw some better reviews of The Vagrants, so I will try that one and give her another chance.
review 2: Fluctuating back and forth between the present day and a pre-boom 1989 Beijing, Yiyun Li takes a slow, meandering look at the resulting consequences of what happens when one is saddled with the burden of guilt over an extended period of time. The tone of the book appropriately matches its morose thema... moretic so do know that you're in for a plentiful bounty of sadness, quiet despair, regret and heavy usage of internal monologue (at the expense of narrative) to tell back-story and portray feeling. While the psychological weight of the narrative is plodding (and continues to get heavier up through its conclusion) Li does superb work conveying this sense of a constant crushing weight that one eventually becomes accustomed to albeit with a diminished sense of life and vigor. less

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