- This is another example of a cover that just grabbed me.
I also recommend:
- Vanishing and Other Stories by Deborah Willis
- The Architect of Flowers by William Lychack
Summary from GoodReads:
In the title story, a professor introduces her middle-aged son to a favorite student, unaware of the student’s true affections. In “A Man Like Him,” a lifelong bachelor finds kinship with a man wrongly accused of an indiscretion. In “The Proprietress,” a reporter from Shanghai travels to a small town to write an article about the local prison, only to discover a far more intriguing story involving a shopkeeper who offers refuge to the wives and children of inmates. In “House Fire,” a young man who suspects his father of sleeping with the young man’s wife seeks the help of a detective agency run by a group of feisty old women.
My Review:
I’ve been doing a lot of short story reading lately. I’ve become fairly familiar with them as a result, but I’ll tell you this – this collection was unlike anything I’ve read yet.
Really, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl contains a novella and some short stories. The novella was interesting – but it was the latter stories that really hit me hard. The title story was the most poignant. In such a short span of pages, Yiyun Li establishes such a relationship between her reader and her characters that I found myself weeping with want and sorrow for them. Within the context of that short story so much unspoken background was clamoring for attention that I found it difficult to focus on the surface story without feeling the pain, tension, and longing between the lines.
This is a collection of beautiful writing, intriguing stories and one that I count myself lucky to own. I highly suggest reading it – especially if you are a fan of short stories and are looking for something a little different to broaden your horizons.
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