Review: Sunbirth by An Yu



This author has been on my radar for years, Braised Pork being the book that caught my attention. But Sunbirth ended up being the book I read first! 

I found the premise of this book exhilarating: the fictional town of Five Poems Lake is surrounded by a desert and no one knows what is beyond it. Since twelve years little slivers of the sun have been disappearing, resulting in a climate change from extremely hot, sticky weather to an ice-cold world. The story revolves around two half-sisters, who have lost their grandfather, father and both their mothers. 



When I started reading I was completely entranced. The setting, the characters and the story that was slowly taking shape were fascinating. At about a third of the book, a mystery solving element was added to it, and unfortunately that didn’t quite work for me. And the reason it didn’t work for me is that I’m just not very interested in mysteries, because for me the solutions are never truly satisfying, this solution sadly not being an exception to the rule. 



I kept reading, because one thing that will always interest me is complex family dynamics. But unfortunately, this storyline was also disappointing. Big revelations came quite suddenly, I missed context, emotion and connection here.

That is not to say I had a bad time. The writing is simple and beautiful, the descriptions of the setting are very vivid, enough interesting things happens to keep the story going. Maybe even too much for my taste, I don’t mind books where nothing happens. Ultimately, however, it missed a certain depth. There was too much I wished was explored more. And it might very well that I wasn’t able to grasp the cultural weight of certain topics the book touches upon. But in the end, this book left me with a very unfulfilled feeling.

Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for the free digital ARC!

This book was a difficult one for me to rate and review. I don't HATE it, but I also don't really have much to say about it. What is the book going for? At one point it seemed to be a story of survival, i.e. what are these people going to do about the inevitability of the sun's disappearance (and subsequently, death)? If someone decides to take their own life, would that be wrong? Do people who spend years and years preparing for death better at facing it?

And then the book went into a somewhat mysterious setting. There were questions about the circumstances of the death of the protagonist's father, and further on we have reveals about his actions in the past. There were some bizarre, startling transformations that affect certain humans. What is going on? But if you're looking for explanations or concrete answers, you won't find it.

Now I'm okay with books that don't have concrete answers if they are compelling enough. After all, I did read a tonne of Haruki Murakami books. In a sense, this book is passable at being compelling; despite it never quite being a page-turner, I was never tempted to DNF it. Unfortunately, I also feel that it didn't have much to say? It never pushed the premise hard enough to pull back the layers of the human psyche, which was what I'd expect from a book like this. Maybe I'm not intelligent enough to discern the point it was trying to make?

At the end of the day, it's an okay read. Perhaps not a book I'd recommend to everyone, but it certainly wouldn't rank anywhere near the worst books I've read.

Sunbirth follows two sisters living in a small, isolated village where the sun is slowly vanishing from the sky. The protagonist lives a quiet life as a pharmacist and lives with her sister who works in a massage center. As the days get colder and darker, people’s heads begin to transform into blazing balls of light known as beacons. The sisters attempt to uncover the truth about their father’s death many years ago and how it might be linked to their present circumstances. This profound novel is both a speculative mystery about the human response to catastrophe and an exploration of the complex bonds of sisterhood. A surreal, atmospheric story about what we hold close in uncertain times.

As much as I love the idea ⌵
and the issues discussed, it was too many, and carrying them like luggage througout the pages...you tend to missed out some depth. overall, good writing. If you're fan of Haruki Murakami and family drama, you'll dig this.

Sunbirth paints the picture of a world where over the course of a decade, piece by piece, the sun has been disappearing. Set in Five Poems Lake, cut off from the rest of the world by surrounding desert and circumstance, it follows the life of a young woman trying to run the pharmacy she inherited from her grandfather. Things take a turn when more of the sun disappears, and townspeople with lights for head start showing up.

The real strength of this novel is its premise and setting. An Yu adeptly and vividly describes the daily life of someone living through the mundane and yet inexplicable, the end of a world that's taking its sweet, sweet time. You get a look at people of all different creeds and walks of life, and how they've managed to cling to some level of normalcy - or not - when the sky itself is a constant reminder that nothing is the same.

Unfortunately, I don't think that the setting and premise of this book were utilized to anywhere near their potentials. This was a struggle for me to get through, and I was frankly bored for the majority of this novel. The pacing really struggled throughout - I would be begging for anything to happen for a long stretch, then a huge plot point would come out of nowhere, and then nothing impactful would happen for another long while. It felt to me that a lot of the interesting developments in the plot were left to the wayside to instead focus on inane conversations between one dimensional characters.

Character development was lacking throughout. As the overall situation gets worse, people do seem to change, but it's hard to get a sense of this since they didn't have much personality to begin with. Throughout the story, and even in flashbacks, people act erratically and in ways that seem to go against what was written about them previously. This could be seen as some commentary on human nature and reactions to otherworldly events, but to me it was just sloppy and jarring.

The biggest issue I had was that the plot of the disappearing sun really took a back seat to the relationship between the protagonist and her sister. I have no issue with exploring relationship dynamics like this, but given that the title, the cover, and the description all promised an intriguing mystery about the disappearing sun, I hoped that I would at least get that. Instead, there’s no rhyme or reason to the environmental catastrophe taking place, or the strange phenomenon of people with lights for heads. Nothing is explained, or even really hinted at, and the majority of questions asked throughout remain open and unsatisfied.

Some readers may find comfort in the descriptions of little parts of the day, or beauty in the dynamics of a relationship between two sisters who were both separated and brought closer by loss, or some interesting observations about the nature of humanity in desperation. At the end of Sunbirth, I was just left wanting.

Sunbirth is set in a small, isolated town where the sun, incrementally, is disappearing. it follows a young pharmacist as she goes about her life selling medicine to regulars. both slow and fast-paced, the story unfolds as the sun fades away - until people start becoming suns themselves.

this is a story about grief and sisterhood. i loved this book and all of its aspects. i read Ghost Music by An Yu a while ago, and while it wasn't my favorite i was excited to read more of this authors work. Sunbirth totally surpassed my expectations. it was lyrical and blunt, and didn't pull any punches. the mystery and different time periods were so interesting i couldn't put it down, i read this one pretty much in one sitting. truly i don't know what else i can say about it; this is exactly the type of literary magical realism story that i eat up. weird and inexplicable with lovable, human characters

5/5 stars from me!

I didn't connect with this one - it's set in a remote village/town where the sun is disappearing but, from time to time, people's heads turn into lightbulbs. Told in first person, this just didn't grab me and I struggled to follow what was going on. Not sure I understood the ending. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This may end up being a polarizing book - I envision many people will love it deeply, and many won’t understand it fully. I fear I’m in the latter camp - I couldn’t connect with the prose or the characters. Although I generally like novels without easy explanations, or without any explanations at all, Sunbirth is so restrained that the plot feels a bit untethered.

There is a beautiful, and accurate, portrayal of sisters that many readers will appreciate. The novel’s premise is original and interesting.

This was not as good as I hoped for. The cover is stunning and the plot is very good on the premise. But the execution halters a bit for me, I'm not that interested and it's hard to keep my interest up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Sunbirth
by An Yu
Genre: Literary, Surrealism, Magical Realism
Pages: 256
Rating: 4.5/5 (rounded to 5)

With its unfamiliar premise of the sun disappearing a fraction at a time, juxtaposed against the universal themes of sisterhood and family bonds, this sparse novel of 256 pages delivers a strange combination of a very powerful yet gentle reading.

Since An Yu's first novel (this is her third), I have been a fan. In my opinion, this is her best work till date, though I have immensely enjoyed her Braised Pork and Ghost Music as well.

All her works till now have been strongly rooted in surrealism and magical realism. This infuses an uncertainty or uniqueness in the plot as well as in the life of the protagonists, in An Yu's novels, which provides the impetus to the protagonist to steer through their existential crisis.

In Sunbirth, we meet two sisters—one runs a family apothecary and the other works at a massage centre. They live in a village called Five Poems Lake (what a beautiful name, right? There is a backstory for this nomenclature). It's not easy to leave this village. The sun is disappearing from their sky, one sliver at a time, at an uncertain speed and with it is receding the sustainability of life under this sky. This leads the novel towards traces of a dystopia as well, but only mildly so.

The author has more in store for her readers; the uncertainty in the lives of the sisters multiply as they tumble upon facts that hint at their father's involvement in the bizzare happenings of the town—which the readers will discover by and by.

What do we hold on to at the time of uncertainty? Hope for the future? Love? Family?

How is a family born?

Sunbirth will make a reader dwell on these questions.

For some readers, the ending may leave a bit wanting if their focus is more on the setting of the novel instead of on its emotional landscape. My take is that the speculative setting of this novel is not an end in itself but a means to navigate the emotional landscape of its characters and in that, the ending is perfect.

I am a huge fan of Haruki Murakami's works, and in An Yu's earlier works, I could see a lot of Murakami-esque elements; comparison with Murakami is almost inevitable when a novel embraces surrealism and/or magical realism. Of course, this didn't not take away anything from the richness or the originality of her books or talent, but I have always hoped that An Yu would ultimately create a niche unique to herself—because a very few can have such command on genres like surrealism and magical realism, and she's one of those few. Sunbirth seems like a firm step towards An Yu's own niche of literature.

With the end of Sunbirth, now I await her next novel.

Let me end this review with gratitude to publisher Grove Press and Net Galley for the happiness that came my way in the shape of the early and free copy of Sunbirth they made available in exchange for a honest review.

Q: Do I recommend Sunbirth to my fellow readers?
A: Yes! ❤️

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book! The concept of this book was so intriguing, and the premise immediately caught my attention, from the blurb it wasn't too clear which way the story was going to go. I could see it being adapted into a short series or a film especially as the setting is richly developed and integral to the narrative, the writing was very visual.

The plot centres around a town slowly losing sunlight—no one knows why it's happening or when the sun will disappear entirely. The stress and the anxiety are visible on the page and that tension is passed to the reader. We follow the main character running a pharmacy and her sister as they navigate this setting and the way other people are behaving in these circumstances.

Makes you value all the sun does for our world.

2.0 ⭐

This book wasn't really for me but I can definitely see that it WILL be for others. I read and loved Ghost Music so I was really looking forward to Sunbirth, but unfortunately I found myself on the edge of DNFing the whole time and kind of wish I had.

Sunbirth is set in a fictional village near a lake called Five Poems Lake. Our main character is a pharmacist and her only other living relative is her older sister. Small pieces of the sun have been disappearing for 12 years a little at a time, until suddenly they are on the verge of the sun disappearing completely.

The prose is uncomplicated but beautiful - something I also loved about Ghost Music.

I love the premise of this story but just didn't find myself wanting to pick it up. I felt very disconnected from the characters and the plot and there wasn't really much driving us forward. It all felt very hopeless (which I realize is kind of the point), but I don't think I was in the headspace to appreciate it.

Maybe this would've worked better for me as an audiobook?

*Thank you to Grove Press and Netgalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Sunbirth is a strange novel in the sense that it’s quiet but emotionally charged, occasionally disjointed and full of ideas that don’t always land.

The first chunk of the book (around 50%) moves at a glacial pace. The writing style is minimalist but it felt a bit flat sometimes. With that being said, it does work well when we consider the emotional numbness of the unnamed narrator. Once the story starts to unravel, the pacing lunches forward and new interesting narrative layers emerge.

This novel is about sisters, grief and the blur between guilt and love. I thought the dynamic between the two girls was the most powerful part of the book. Their bond felt both endearing and suffocating which made a few moments unexpectedly personal and emotional.

Besides the themes mentioned before, this novel is also about trauma, loss, environmental collapse and identity. Some of these themes are handled with care, others feel like they’re thrown in too late or dropped too soon. At some points in my reading I felt like I, as a reader, was being introduced to a lot of different themes which, in all, felt a bit too much at times.

The ending felt particularly abrupt and while I didn’t dislike Sunbirth, I also didn’t fully connect with it either. It’s a slightly fractured book that left me feeling thoughtful by the end but that didn’t entirely satisfy me.

In Sunbirth, the reader is drawn into a world quietly unraveling under the weight of an impossible reality: the sun is vanishing. Not in a sudden, apocalyptic burst, but in gradual, unnerving increments; 5%, then 10%, then 20%; until, inevitably, it disappears completely. It is this slow erosion of light, and the psychological toll it exacts on a town left to witness it, that gives the novel its haunting power.

What makes Sunbirth remarkable is not the scale of its premise but its restraint. There is no hero’s journey, no scientific solution, no divine intervention. The townspeople, trapped under a dimming sky, respond not with rebellion but with the quiet, desperate gestures of people trying to preserve normalcy against a tide of cosmic indifference. They adjust their lives each time the sun weakens—changing routines, revising rituals, hoping that order can withstand entropy. But as light recedes, so too does reason, structure, and cohesion. People panic. Some vanish. Those who leave the town are never heard from again, swallowed by an uncertainty more terrifying than death.

The novel’s metaphysical response to this disintegration comes in the form of the “beacons,” people who, in a desperate bid for meaning, choose to become suns themselves. These “sunbirths” burn brightly, briefly, and are never seen again. Whether their act is one of transcendence or annihilation remains unclear. But their emergence reveals something deeply human: a longing to reclaim agency in a world that denies it. In fearing immortality beneath a dying sky, they chase mortality as a kind of rebirth. The paradox is chilling: to seek light through burning.

The writing itself mirrors the novel’s emotional and philosophical terrain. It is poetic, even elegiac, but never overwrought. The prose moves with the rhythms of twilight; measured, melancholy, intimate. Magical realism is not an aesthetic flourish here but a natural expression of the story’s inner logic. The boundary between the magical and the real is fluid and seamless, evoking a world where the impossible is not questioned but absorbed into daily life.

Sunbirth does not offer closure. It does not promise renewal or redemption. Instead, it gives us something rarer: a quiet meditation on helplessness, on waiting for an end that cannot be avoided, and on the fragile, flickering ways people try to make sense of that darkness. In a literary landscape saturated with spectacle and salvation, Sunbirth dares to dwell in stillness, and that is its most luminous achievement.

Sunbirth is a thought-provoking book about two sisters navigating their relationship while they deal with a slowly disappearing sun and the death of their father.

This is a book that I know I’ll be thinking about and reflecting on for a while to come. I like that the book left some things a mystery, just like how some things are in real life. It was a contemplative story that leaves you thinking about the expectations we have for ourselves and for the loved ones in our lives. I liked that the mystery of the Beacons was something I hadn’t read anything similar to in another book and that it wasn’t something easily explained.

I think the best books are the ones that will pop up in our minds for years to come, and this definitely will spend some time in my thoughts!

'Sunbirth' by An Yu is a dystopian work where we follow our main character whose name is not revealed throughout the novel but we do see her interactions in this world where sun doesn't exist anymore. Our main character runs a pharmacy in a small village named Five Poems Lake. We follow her story with her sister Dong Ji her only remaining relative in this frozen world where the sun is chipping away day by day. No one knows why the sun is disappearing and we see some abnormalities happening in this small village. We see questionable suicides, harassments, weird footage of people looking like they are the sun themselves. Alot of confusion and loose ends are showcased and we are clueless as our main protagonist.

My ebook was kinda messed up so that derailed my reading experience abit but all in all this was surprisingly a quick read where we get character study and vivid imagery of this sun-less world. This made me think about our life and what sun represents in our lives—metaphorically and otherwise. 3.5 stars, would recommend if you are new into the dystopian genre

I WILL READ ANYTHING AN YU WRITES— i literally scoured every bookshop i could find in my country and abroad for copies of her first two books. i read them as ebooks and just HAD to get physical copies to annotate. I’M SO GLAD THIS ARC WAS GIVEN TO ME. thank you so much, Grove Atlantic!!!

"Sunbirth" is a literary fiction novel that incorporates elements of magical realism. It explores themes of sisterhood and grief, set against the backdrop of a small desert village where the sun gradually disappears over the years. As this phenomenon unfolds, the villagers' heads transform into miniature suns, giving them a zombie-like appearance.

Although the premise is quite unusual, Yu's (Ghost Music) writing effectively addresses serious topics such as grief and sexual assault, which are central to the story. However, as the narrative progresses, it attempts to tackle too many different themes and ideas, resulting in an ending that feels unfinished and disjointed. Yu's (Ghost Music) style and storytelling evoke comparisons to authors like Sayaka Murata and Bae Suah.

While "Sunbirth" is primarily character-driven, its inconsistent pacing leads to unrealistic character development. Some arcs feel rushed, while others drag on. The setting is consistently well-described and detailed, making it easy and enjoyable to follow. Overall, I cannot recommend this book due to the inconsistencies in writing throughout, which can make it difficult to follow. Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sunbirth is An Yu’s upcoming novel, set to be published in August. Known for Braised Pork and Ghost Music, An Yu returns with a quiet but powerful story of two sisters living in a village where the sun is slowly disappearing from the sky. ☀️

I spotted this book on Bookstagram just once or twice and didn’t know much about the author or the plot—but the stunning cover immediately pulled me in. I knew I had to check it out, so I requested an advanced copy from @groveatlantic via @netgalley 🥰

The story takes place in Five Poems Lake, a small and isolated village that feels like a prison to some—but not to our protagonist, who’s content with her place in the world. Her only concern is the sun. She keeps watching the sky, quietly dreading its absence. While the looming mystery of the vanishing sun keeps you hooked, the novel’s heart lies in the bond between the sisters and the quiet strength of family. 👭🏻

There’s another mystery, too—one rooted in the past. The sisters try to uncover the truth behind their father's death, raising the question: are some secrets better left buried? 🧐

All in all, this was a mesmerising read. I kept turning the pages, eager to discover what would unfold. I’ve now added An Yu’s earlier books to my TBR and can’t wait to read them. If you're looking for a novel you won't be able to put down—quietly suspenseful, beautifully written—I highly recommend Sunbirth. 🥰

EArc provided courtesy of NetGalley, spoilers ahead.

This book had a wonderful dreamlike quality to it. I did love it but have so many questions nagging at me still due to the open ending which I love in a slightly masochistic way. I don't really have many criticisms or thoughts relating to this as I felt like I was Dong Ji's sister while I was reading, despite not even being a woman, which is a real testament to the quality of An Yu's writing. The use of the sun as a metaphor for grief just perfect, at least that's my interpretation of the sun's disappearance at Ba's death and return only when the sisters begin to truly heal from his death and their relationship with Dong Ji taking less of the familial burdens, allowing her sister to come into her own and to take some of the burden with her.

4 Stars