Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Yiyun Li
Harper Perennial 2006
Li’s short stories paint vivid pictures of a land in transition. We learn of China as it was – a totalitarian communist state, and as it is – a still fairly totalitarian, still nominally communist state embracing capitalism with a fervour, undergoing a change similar in scale to the industrial revolution. We learn of Chinese ex-pats in the United States and coming home; we also learn of the people who never went away. It’s fascinating to get these snapshots of a society on the cusp of huge change from someone who really knows what she’s talking about. Occasionally (particularly in The Princess of Nebraska) I felt she was cramming too much into her sentences and thus into the story, and the fable-like magic realism of one or two pieces isn’t really my cup of tea (though if its yours they are undoubtedly well done), but overall this is a book I recommend. Li has only been writing in English for six years, and yet her prose is clear, expressive, and at times poetic. Even the occasional stiltedness (illogic used as a noun, some clearly translated dialogue) suggests the characters’ displacement and adds to the book’s success. Perhaps as it was for the woman in the title story, it is for Li: her new language has allowed her to express herself freshly, more directly. Well worth a look.
http://www.yiyunli.com/
23rd January 2007
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