A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

Praise for A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS

“A subtle and original perspective on the latest chapter in China’s turbulent history. . Li is a valuable firsthand guide to this decade of mind-bending change. . [She] shows a light touch that, combined with her gift for characterization, saves her stories from turning into consciousness-raising exercises. . Poignant.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Thoughtful, deceptively quiet, and always surprising, these seamless stories remind us that regardless of the society we inhabit, the most basic human emotions. . transcend history and geography, and are universal, timeless, and endlessly mysterious.” —O: The Oprah Magazine

“The stories in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers are both contemporary and universal, telling of love, death, and the joys and burdens of family against the backdrop of China’s sudden modernity. . What’s clear from this volume is that the delineations of [Li’s] talent have only begun to come into view.” —Elle

“Yiyun Li is a true storyteller. Great stories offer us the details of life on the riverbanks: birth, family, dinner and love, all framing the powerful flow of terror, death, political change, the river itself. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is as grand an epic and as tenderly private as a reader could wish.” —AMY BLOOM, author of Come to Me

“An extraordinary feat of intelligence and style. Li writes as though English were her native tongue. Her prose is wonderfully complex, emotive and smart. . Her sentences not only move some fine stories along, they also dramatize a serious understanding of contemporary life and a deeply felt response to the rigors and vagaries of drinking from modernity’s sometimes bitter cup.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“A remarkable debut. . It’s one of those rare short story collections where you find yourself reading one perfectly realized gem after the next. . Each of these stories takes you to a different place, and each feels fresh, wise and alive, creating a fascinating, horrifying and heartbreaking picture of life in a country where the past never goes away.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Absorbing. . expertly plumb[s] lives silenced by disappointment, where release can come in unexpected forms and as suddenly as a long-forgotten memory.” —Entertainment Weekly

“This extraordinary collection reminds you just how big a short story can be. With wit, ruthlessness, and an understanding of human nature — its grand follies, private sorrows, and petty dreams— A Thousand Years of Good Prayers may remind you of Flannery O’Connor, though Li is an original. Read this book and marvel at a writer both at the height of her powers and at the start of a brilliant career.” —ELIZABETH MCCRACKEN, author of The Giant’s House

“One of the year’s most auspicious debuts.” —San Jose Mercury News

“A beautifully executed debut collection. . Li deftly weaves a political message into her human portraits. . Powerful.” —Publishers Weekly

“Complex, moving, and surprising.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“With great tenderness, tact and humor, these stories open a world that is culturally remote from us, and at the same time as humanly intimate as if its people were our own family and their thoughts the thoughts that lie nearest our own hearts.” —MARILYNNE ROBINSON, author of Gilead and Housekeeping

“[A] superb debut. . [Li’s] settings are vital and her characters richly complicated. . Provocative and memorable fiction that is at once culturally specific and universal.” —Booklist

“A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is not only an outstanding first book of fiction by a young writer, it is a literary event that transcends language. Li’s stories express an inexpressible joy. One can only wish Yiyun Li many happy returns to her writing desk.” —Providence Journal