Things in Nature Merely Grow

"I must begin with the facts, as the author does: Writer Yiyun Li lost both her teenage sons to suicide. It’s a tragedy we might call “unthinkable,” but Li’s book is about thinking. While the deaths of her sons are the context, the subject is Li’s thought process as she lives through the aftermath of her younger son’s death in 2024. 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. This National Book Award finalist 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."