{"product_id":"things-in-nature-merely-grow","title":"Things in Nature Merely Grow","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A writer's deeply moving and revelatory account of losing her younger son to suicide a little more than six years after her older son died in the same manner, an austere and defiant memoir of acceptance that focuses on facts, language and the persistence of life.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--2026 Pulitzer Prize Judges' Citation\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003e(Best Books of the Year So Far)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A work of genius.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Medaya Ocher, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e (Best Books of the Year)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"To be in Li's head is a rare privilege--she is a writer of elegance and clarity and is a deeply interesting thinker. And the book, surprisingly, is not sad. It is moving and even funny in places as she writes about her wonderful friends, a few awful strangers, but most of all her extraordinary sons. You may find yourself transformed after reading it. I did.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Barrie Hardymon, NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"By refusing to dwell on the maudlin, Li captures an even more difficult emotional truth: how to accept and live with unimaginable tragedy.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Jen Lennon, \u003ci\u003eThe AV Club\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Transcendent . . . In sparing prose that cuts deeply, Li examines the relationship between language and loss, honoring the sons who she carries with her, always.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Annabel Gutterman, \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003e(Best Books of the Year So Far)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A meditative, unflinching exploration of loss . . . Li writes beautifully and honestly about this very thing, about how a person continues through the 'now and now and now and now' of life after tragedy.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Isle McElroy, \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e (Best Books of the Year So Far)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In direct and unsparing reflections, Li confronts not only the loss of her children but the limits of language, as she tries to convey anguish that defies description.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Alexandra Alter, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An ethereal memorial . . . Li quietly guides us through the devastation of living, and mothering, after death . . . She delivers an extraordinarily intellectual undertaking that transforms the motherhood memoir, always a fraught genre . . . A mother, she writes, cannot keep a child alive. In writing like Li's, however, even absent children can live on.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Courtney Tenz, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A tribute to radical acceptance and the lasting power of memory.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Clare Mulroy, \u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Unbearably poignant . . . Vital and tenderly written.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Michael Magras, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[ \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e] \n\u003cb\u003estuns with its lucidity\u003c\/b\u003e . . . What is most striking about Li's book [is] not her grief, but her ability to move beyond guilt to understand 'that a mother could do all things humanly possible and sensible for a child but still could not keep him alive.'\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Vikas Turakhia, \u003ci\u003eThe Minnesota Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Li] is a master of words, a master of making ideas flow flawlessly from thought to paper . . . No matter where you stand on grief--whether you're entirely free of it, drowning in it, or somewhere in between--I suggest letting Yiyun Li's words wash over you, for in this tribute you may just find something in which to feel solace.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Madeline Schultz, \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Li's book doesn't offer the consolation of wisdom gained, nor a triumphant arc of recovery. Where it finds reassurance is in its rigorous observation of reality. Although Li resists the idea that she might be offering advice or inspiration, \n\u003cb\u003eher cool-headed clarity does remind readers that it is possible to say the words there is 'no good way to say.' In saying them, she finds a means of survival.\u003c\/b\u003e\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Helen Brown, \u003ci\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e, [Li's] memoir of losing her sons, is resolutely unsentimental, and yet it might wind you with its emotional force.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Sophie McBain, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003cb\u003eTo state that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement\u003c\/b\u003e. One is left altered by it at the same time as desperately wishing that it had never needed to be written at all.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Catherine Taylor, \u003ci\u003eThe Observer \u003c\/i\u003e(London)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e is \n\u003cb\u003ea story of loss that is\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eunlike any other book I've read\u003c\/b\u003e. It's a work of harsh beauty that exists in a different realm to most grief memoirs. That's partly because of its \n\u003cb\u003estartling poise and emotional restraint\u003c\/b\u003e, and partly because it describes a realm of experience that is exceptionally strange and terrible . . . \n\u003cb\u003eIt is an unforgettable monument to endurance, one that offers a kind of fierce comfort\u003c\/b\u003e.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Johanna Thomas-Corr, \u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times \u003c\/i\u003e(London)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book is everywhere marked by a mother's devotion to her children . . . \n\u003cb\u003e[A] steely, heartbreaking, deeply moral tribute to [Li's] remarkable son\u003c\/b\u003e.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Jessi Jezewska Stevens, \u003ci\u003e4Columns\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[ \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e] is, among other things, \n\u003cb\u003ea kind of manual on how to write honestly about the death of loved ones\u003c\/b\u003e. Throughout, Li refreshingly refuses to indulge in the tired metaphorical thinking that death often invites . . . \n\u003cb\u003eLi's style, honed over decades, has never been more distilled.\u003c\/b\u003e\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e --Rhoda Feng, \u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Writers like to acknowledge the poverty of language, usually as we screw up the courage to try something fancy with it. Hordes of us are out there hoping to say the unsayable. Not Li. When she writes that 'words fall short, ' she means it: the one stock phrase she likes is 'there is no good way to say this.' The power of \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow \u003c\/i\u003eresides in her refusal to pay obeisance to words.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Dan Piepenbring, \u003ci\u003eHarper's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Li's astonishing record of how she has chosen acceptance over despair shows why artists among us sometimes offer more wisdom than any other spirituality.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Bethanne Patrick, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Li does not shy away from the magnitude of these losses. Instead, she writes of radical acceptance, offering a profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Shannon Carlin, \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow \u003c\/i\u003eis an impossible book, yet through Li's deftness and determination she transforms the book into an intricate and nonlinear portrait of loss and love.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Michael Welch, \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e (Must-Read Books of May)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"These pages--refreshingly absent of euphemism, platitudes, false optimism, or an ounce of self-pity--provide something far more useful: a vision of maternal grief that is both brutally honest and, ultimately, survivable.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e-- Charley Burlock, \u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Li manages the near impossible in a complex memoir that is as devastating as it is searingly insightful into the contours of grief and acceptance, recommended for anyone who is navigating the nonlinear timeline of loss.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--Greta Rainbow, \u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e (Best New Books of Spring)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Li recounts both boys' lives with palpable love and paints complex, distinct portraits of each . . . Readers who've dealt with their own tragedies will find comfort and understanding here.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eYiyun Li\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of several works of fiction-- \n\u003ci\u003eWednesday's Child\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eThe Book of Goose\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eMust I Go\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eWhere Reasons End\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eKinder Than Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eGold Boy, Emerald Girl\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vagrants\u003c\/i\u003e; and \n\u003ci\u003eA Thousand Years of Good Prayers\u003c\/i\u003e--and the memoir \n\u003ci\u003eDear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the recipient of many awards, including a PEN\/Faulkner Award, a PEN\/Malamud Award, a PEN\/Hemingway Award, a PEN\/Jean Stein Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Windham-Campbell Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eA Public Space\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Best American Short Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eThe PEN\/O. Henry Prize Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She teaches at Princeton University and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR MEMOIR\/AUTOBIOGRAPHY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Andrew \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePEN\/Jean Stein Book Award \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLong-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eOne of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Books of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eYiyun Li's remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance as she considers the loss of her son James.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"There is no good way to say this,\" Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged . . . My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.\" \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThere is no good way to say this--because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, \"a single point in a time line.\" Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: doing \"things that work,\" including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is a book for James, but it is not a book about grieving or mourning. As Li writes, \"The verb that does not die is 'to be.' Vincent was and is and will always be Vincent. James was and is and will always be James. We were and are and will always be their parents. There is no now and then, now and later; only now and now and now and now.\" \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e is a testament to Li's indomitable spirit. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/15\/2025 (EAN 9780374617318, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/24\/2025 (EAN 9780374617318, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2025 pg. 18 (EAN 9780374617318, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/23\/2025 (EAN 9780374617318, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eLi, Yiyun\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eYiyun Li\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of several works of fiction-- \n\u003ci\u003eWednesday's Child\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eThe Book of Goose\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eMust I Go\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eWhere Reasons End\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eKinder Than Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eGold Boy, Emerald Girl\u003c\/i\u003e; \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vagrants\u003c\/i\u003e; and \n\u003ci\u003eA Thousand Years of Good Prayers\u003c\/i\u003e--and the memoirs \n\u003ci\u003eThings in Nature Merely Grow\u003c\/i\u003e and \n\u003ci\u003eDear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the recipient of many awards, including a PEN\/Faulkner Award, a PEN\/Malamud Award, a PEN\/Hemingway Award, a PEN\/Jean Stein Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Windham-Campbell Prize, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eA Public Space\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Best American Short Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eThe PEN\/O. Henry Prize Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She teaches at Princeton University and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496031715606,"sku":"9780374617318","price":31.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780374617318.jpg?v=1783051147","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/things-in-nature-merely-grow","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}