"A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away." -- The New York Times (Best Books of the Year So Far) "To be in Li''s head is a rare privilege--she is a writer of elegance and clarity and is a deeply interesting thinker. And the book, surprisingly, is not sad. It is moving and even funny in places as she writes about her wonderful friends, a few awful strangers, but most of all her extraordinary sons. You may find yourself transformed after reading it. I did." --Barrie Hardymon, NPR "By refusing to dwell on the maudlin, Li captures an even more difficult emotional truth: how to accept and live with unimaginable tragedy." --Jen Lennon, The AV Club "Transcendent .
In sparing prose that cuts deeply, Li examines the relationship between language and loss, honoring the sons who she carries with her, always." --Annabel Gutterman, Time (Best Books of the Year So Far) "A meditative, unflinching exploration of loss . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the ''now and now and now and now'' of life after tragedy." --Isle McElroy, New York (Best Books of the Year So Far) "In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description." --Alexandra Alter, The New York Times "An ethereal memorial . Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death . She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive.
In writing like Li''s, however, even absent children can live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow e, unflinching exploration of loss . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the ''now and now and now and now'' of life after tragedy." --Isle McElroy, New York (Best Books of the Year So Far) "In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description." --Alexandra Alter, The New York Times "An ethereal memorial .
Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death . She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive. In writing like Li''s, however, even absent children can live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow oday "Unbearably poignant .
Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow e, unflinching exploration of loss . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the ''now and now and now and now'' of life after tragedy." --Isle McElroy, New York (Best Books of the Year So Far) "In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description." --Alexandra Alter, The New York Times "An ethereal memorial . Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death . She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive.
In writing like Li''s, however, even absent children can live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow e, unflinching exploration of loss . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the ''now and now and now and now'' of life after tragedy." --Isle McElroy, New York (Best Books of the Year So Far) "In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description." --Alexandra Alter, The New York Times "An ethereal memorial .
Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death . She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive. In writing like Li''s, however, even absent children can live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow oday "Unbearably poignant .
Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow oday "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow e, unflinching exploration of loss . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the ''now and now and now and now'' of life after tragedy." --Isle McElroy, New York (Best Books of the Year So Far) "In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description." --Alexandra Alter, The New York Times "An ethereal memorial . Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death .
She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive. In writing like Li''s, however, even absent children can live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow oday "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written.
" --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow an live on." --Courtney Tenz, The Washington Post "A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory." --Clare Mulroy, USA Today "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow oday "Unbearably poignant . Vital and tenderly written." --Michael Magras, Shelf Awareness "[ Things in Nature Merely Grow ] stuns with its lucidity . What is most striking about Li''s book [is] not her grief, but her ability to move beyond guilt to understand ''that a mother could do all things humanly possible and sensible for a child but still could not keep him alive.
''" --Vikas Turakhia, The Minnesota Star Tribune "[Li] is a master of words, a master of making ideas flow flawlessly from thought to paper . No matter where you stand on grief--whether you''re entirely free of it, drowning in it, or somewhere in between--I suggest letting Yiyun Li''s words wash over you, for in this tribute you may just find something in which to feel solace." --Madeline Schultz, Chicago Review of Books "Li''s book doesn''t offer the consolation of wisdom gained, nor a triumphant arc of recovery. Where it finds reassurance is in its rigorous observation of reality. Although Li resists the idea that she might be offering advice or inspiration, her cool-headed clarity does remind readers that it is possible to say the words there is ''no good way to say.'' In saying them, she finds a means of survival. " --Helen Brown, The Telegraph " Things in Nature Merely Grow , [Li''s] memoir of losing her sons, is resolutely unsentimental, and yet it might wind you with its emotional force." --Sophie McBain, The Guardian " To state that this courag.