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'Li's writing is beautifully spare and controlled.' The Times 'Yiyun's confidence as a storyteller lends her fiction a traditional air, but there's nothing old fashioned about her perspective!When I've sampled other recent Chinese writing, I've had a sense of western publishers being seduced by the novelty of it all, snapping up authors with dramatic histories and slim talents. Yiyun is the real deal!Yiyun has the talent, the vision and the respect for life's insoluble mysteries to be a truly fine writer. Michel Faber, Guardian 'Great narrative skill!demonstrates that the best way to learn about people in a foreign culture is through good fiction.' Irish Times 'Li has a remarkable talent for telling the story of the whole of China through apparently insignificant lives.' New Statesman 'These mesmerising stories present a glimpse of modern China more nuanced than any reporter could ever hop to gleam.' Daily Mail 'Li's moving, engrossing stories are particular in their place!but universal in their themes and their relevance.' The Observer 'If you have ever wondered what life is like in modern China, but can't afford the airfare and lessons in Mandarin, you should read this book. In fact if you haven't given China a second thought, this is a collection of stories worth reading.' Impac News
Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard
'a wonderfully well-written, fascinating and affecting collection
of stories.'
of stories.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Modern Day Mythical Masterpiece,
By Jim Anso (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Paperback)
This collection of short stories based in China captures invaluable insights into 20th century Chinese traditions and every day way of life there. Li's narrative style adds a sort of mythical tone to the stories, as one might have expected ancient Chinese myths to be told. The way that Li focuses on the development of human feelings within Communist China really magnifies the effect that a Totalitarian regime can have on a human mind. The stories act as a kind of historical insight into China over the last 100 years but also act as an analysis on human behaviour in general and how people act and cope under extreme situations.
I absolutely loved the style of this book and how it allows your imagination to expolore at times extremely surreal situations. A great book!!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good short stories but not as brilliant as her novel,
By Parvati P. (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Paperback)
I read this book after reading Yiyun Li's wonderful novel "The Vagrants" which really impressed me. However, I found this collection to be of variable quality. Some stories touched me but others left no impact. Although the stories have the author's hallmarks of showing how people are emotionally connected no matter how much they suppress their emotions and no matter what the political vagaries, they are not much more than vignettes of people's lives, there is no particular theme or themes to this book. Yiyun Li's talent is her sharp eye that is able to observe deep inside her characters to unravel their thoughts and motivations. But the stories are not connected enough to give us a broader picture of China (or Chinese immigrants), and they do not have the universality of her novel "The Vagrants". I see these stories as early attempts at her craft, practicing for a much the much bigger canvas of "The Vagrants" which she wrote after this.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What we sacrifice makes life meaningful,
By
This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Paperback)
Yiyun Li's stories are anchored in the Chinese past as well as in the present.
The scars of the Cultural Revolution with its indiscriminate victimizing, its drastic priggishness, its denunciations and liquidations are still felt in nearly all families. It was a period of black and white, of for or against, of silence or lies. Modern China is in a serious upheaval and ravaged by doubt: `once doubt starts, it runs rampant.' Now, `a bird is willing to die for a morsel of food. A man is willing to die for a penny of wealth.' The chasm between the haves and the have-nots is sharply widening. The time of the arranged marriages and obedient children is replaced by a clash of generations. The parents are still looking for a `good' marriage, but many children are getting divorced or confess that they are gay. Yiyun Li's naturally flowing short stories shine through their mostly dimmed, but heavy, emotions, their nostalgia of youth, their surprising revelations and their subdued, but dramatic ends. At the end of the book, the author gives a shocking report of a bestial execution during the Cultural Revolution. Not to be missed by all lovers of Chinese and world literature.
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