A Novel about Dealing with Grief and Guilt

 Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li

Grieving Woman by X1klima CC BY ND 2.0

Yiyun Li's Where Reasons End was heartbreaking. It made me pull my kids closer and really pay attention to what I say to them and what they say to me. Li’s book is the dialogue between a mother and her deceased son, who loved to read and question. He continues to question her even after his death. She also questions many things, including why he died, what she did or didn’t do. As someone wrote about Li, she’s not the kind of writer who gives you want you want to hear or read, but what she has to say is so incredible and important that it is necessary to read. This novel is inventive and powerful from one of the best writers of today.