Reader Score
80%
80% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 9 reviews on
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the Story Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award
Named a Best Book of the Year by Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Esquire, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews
"Li's characters endure so much pain -- whether through grief, disdain, loss or anger -- but her cool, often detached style turns that pain into an object, something solid to consider . . . Pain doesn't follow neat trajectories -- any more than her short stories seek easy endings."
--Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times (Best Fiction of 2023)