4 and 1/2 starsNuggets and gems (in keeping with the title of this collection) are scattered throughout these stories -- in some it is the culminating line; in others a sentence that at first glance seems like a throwaway. Though the stories are set in China, these are more stories of character, not place, though the changes from an 'old' to a 'new' China and the resulting transitions do inform them.The opening novella, "Kindness" -- the only story told in the first person -- sets the tone for t...

I think this is the book I have enjoyed reading the most this year, and it is also one of the best books I have read this year, in terms of opening a new world open to me. I have read several other Chinese authors, but this is probably my favorite. I felt that the characters were both universal and specific, and that the book was a strong insight into "real" (although it is fiction), human lives in China... and would be interested to know of course what people who know more about real life in Ch...

4.5 starsi have the weirdest feeling of still, not quite knowing what this book is about. well, it is a collection of short stories. this book takes the small things-- the real things-- in life and amplifies them. in doing so, it brings out the truths of human nature, and sometimes that is the thing that hits harder than any fantasy story. sometimes, you just need stories about a group of matchmaking old ladies, childhood sworn sisters who have grown apart as they grew old, a middle aged man and...

This is a powerful collection of stories by Yiyun Li. Most are set in 20th century China and certainly there is a strong sense of time and place. But the dominant feature of the stories are the characters. Li’s main characters are outsiders; people who in various ways have positioned themselves away from their family members, co-workers and the rest of society. They often have different expectations for their lives than the people around them and in many ways they are alone. Through these people...

This is a collection of short stories set in China but written in English for an English speaking readership. They are all fine enough stories technically but for me something was missing, it was a bit like sitting on a bench in autumn watching the leaves fall from the trees, sometimes you are in the mood for it and sometimes not. So I find myself in the position of writing that the stories are all capable, coherent and consistent but that I would not particularly recommend them, and I don't exp...

I enjoyed the short stories in this book. I thought it was interesting how all of them involved an older character who was nostalgic or regretful about their past in some way. I like Yiyun Li's writing style. I like the simplicity of her sentences (like when one character compares freedom to a restaurant you get tired of eating at), or how violence always pops up in her plots in ways that really shock you. I like how most of her characters are lonely. Her stories are sad, but somehow not depress...

"My father, on the way home, warned me gently that the chickens were too young to last more than a day or two. I built a nest for the chicks out of a shoebox and ripped newspaper, and fed them water-softened millet grains and a day later, when they looked ill, aspirin dissolved in water. Two days later they died, the one I named Dot and marked with ink on his forehead the first one to go, followed by Mushroom. I stole two eggs from the kitchen when my father went to help a neighbour fix a leakin...

SUBTLE AMBIGUITIES. "As innocent as new blossoms, unaware of the time sweeping past like a river."—page 134Subtlety and futility seem to suffuse the eight short stories of Yiyun Li's nuanced collection, GOLDEN BOY, EMERALD GIRL. Recommendation: Not a comfortable read for the linear-minded (nothing ever seems to be resolved), but poetically lyrical if you can abide a touch of ambiguity. "The one to show up at the right time beats the earlier risers."—page 135"But animosity is easier to live with

Li is the sort of writer who will be remembered for a long time to come, if there is any justice in this life. As with most fiction by Chinese or Chinese-American writers, the publishers have decided to market it as a selection of snapshots from "the China of the 21st century, where economic development has led to situations unknown to previous decades" (to quote the jacket description). I suppose the idea is to rope in a few business students looking for something current, that gives them the "...

I picked up this book on a whim after seeing it displayed prominently at my local public library. It is the One Book, One Chicago 2012 Spring pick, and as a collection of short stories, I thought it would fit into my reading time, which is stolen in snatches and bits from my daily responsibilities.Each story is a vignette that reveals quietly tragic figures going about their daily lives, but each contains a turning point or special event in their lives that is often the culmination of many years...

A Unique VoiceThe first story, ‘Kindness’, is about a young girl serving her required army stint the year before starting college. She’s led an isolated childhood as an only child of a depressed, unengaged mother and a loving but much older and more tired father who works as a janitor. The child has an odd talent for gaining the interest of influential people such as an aging, lonely literary woman who teaches her to read and appreciate English literature including Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy

This is one of the loneliest collections of stories I've ever read. It's also remarkably beautiful, if only because it manages to never fall into despair. The will to go on, to keep living, even when all love is gone, even after realising that love was only a word one never could believe in or that one could no longer believe in. But there is so much more here than that.--I never showed up in her dreams, I am certain, as people we keep in our memories rarely have a place for us in theirs. You ma...