no one writes like yiyun li. a stoic, brutal, and intensely loving book for li's second, quieter child, james. extraordinary.

i could see this book as a salve and gift for any person grieving death, suicide, the loss of a child, or any person who, even in life, felt elusive; though li, herself, eschews the word "grief", about which she writes:

“I am against the word “grief,” which in contemporary culture seems to indicate a process that has an end point: the sooner you get there, the sooner you prove yourself to be a good sport at living, and the less awkward people around you will feel. Sometimes people ask me where I am in the grieving process, and I wonder whether they understand anything at all about losing someone.”