Reviews

Wednesday's Child by Yiyun Li

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I really liked The Book of Goose from Li, but this one was a miss for me. I made it through the first 2 short stories I think, and neither of them caught my interest. I also just don't really enjoy books about pregnancy or child rearing, so I ended up DNF'ing.

nellusso's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

backlogbooks's review

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not vibing with the writing style, and i'm not a big short story person in general so i think this just wasnt the book for me

malalaisee's review

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

daneroberts's review

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3.75

I’ve never read a Pulitzer Prize book at all so it took me a second to get acclimated to the big-brained writing but I enjoyed this! Some of the stories were duds, but most of them were interesting and eloquent stories about the complexities of motherhood which is sooo my jam. Glad I got around to this one this year.

enby's review

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4.5

what a hell of a coping mechanism for her

this might just be me being dyslexic but i had trouble reading some passages due to their artistic ambiguity and ended up missing/confusing key parts of the story that then disrupted the overall impact it would have had. however i'm aware the flow would be strange if she opted for technical descriptions, so it's fine. still very immersive

theooo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

thehancam's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

I fear I set my expectations too high for this one.

The Book of Goose is one of my favorite things I’ve read this year and I was eager to dive into Yiyun Li’s short fiction, but ultimately, although the prose itself is artfully crafted, most of the stories felt lackluster.