The Vagrants, by Yiyun Li

philg - January 7, 2010 @ 5:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Recommended reading: The Vagrants by Yiyun Li.

The novel is a great display of the writer’s craft, as Li introduces a large cast of three-dimensional characters with remarkably few words. The novel is also timely, dealing as it does with the question of how pragmatic parents are to cope with a child who becomes carried away by words or a philosophy and is ready to sacrifice him or herself to a cause. (See Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his father.)

2 Comments

  1. Barbara

    January 7, 2010 @ 11:14 pm

    1

    I read The Vagrants last year after it was recommended by a person with deep understanding of China. This book has beautiful passages and an overarching emotional story. I had not connected it with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his father. Thank you.

  2. Neal Lester

    January 8, 2010 @ 12:40 am

    2

    I recently read “Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party” by Ying Compestine which is also set during the Cultural Revolution. It is suffused with a peculiar feeling which I’ve come to associate with fiction set during this period. Now I’m anxious to read The Vagrants…

    http://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Dinner-Party-Chang-Compestine/dp/0805082077

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