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A review by joakley
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
5.0
Elite writing. Story of a small city in communist China in the 70s/80s, follows a cast of characters and is a continuous mesmerizing interweaving of identities and narratives. Everything fits together, but not in an over the top soap opera-y way, you just get this full powerful picture of the city and its troubles. Can be pretty morbid, but the feelings and the characters feel so real and intimate
EDIT: I feel like this review doesn’t describe how good it was so I’m adding this. There is a heart to this novel, and as each story unfolds, with each little specific moment and detail, though it feels small and tied to the context of that character, every detail peels back the curtain that obscures that heart, that deeper truth of the book. So you begin to see a little bit more of it with each page. I don’t think I can fully explain what that truth is, but like all great novels it is regarding what it means to be a human that exists
EDIT: I feel like this review doesn’t describe how good it was so I’m adding this. There is a heart to this novel, and as each story unfolds, with each little specific moment and detail, though it feels small and tied to the context of that character, every detail peels back the curtain that obscures that heart, that deeper truth of the book. So you begin to see a little bit more of it with each page. I don’t think I can fully explain what that truth is, but like all great novels it is regarding what it means to be a human that exists