A review by deborahrosegreen
Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, by Yiyun Li

dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

Spoiler

Yiyun, having moved from Bejing to America, reflects on her experience in a mental health hospital after attempting suicide. She tries to justify suicide whilst condemning it through descriptions of other authors deaths such as the Zweigs. She reads the diaries and letters of dead authors to try and understand them, discusses fatalism and the concept of ‘natural language’.

I deeply related to various sections, especially near the beginning, although I have to say that as it went on I felt as though the author was really overthinking certain concepts to the point where it felt uncomfortable. Perhaps that was the point. After that I didn’t enjoy it, except the section about language which I found both engaging and inspiring. Overall, I agree with the author that the book was an indulgence on her part because, with a lot of respect, I can’t think of any other reason why she would write it. It spun me in circles and flipped me upside down. Having finished, I feel dizzy rather than enlightened.