The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li is
incredible. I’m not sure how she came about this book, but it is such an
interesting reflection on friendship, youth, identity, death, and adulthood.
Agnes and Fabienne are two friends growing up in the post-war French
countryside, where opportunities for women were scarce (and even for young
people, as Agnes’s brother is shellshocked after serving in the war). The two
girls engage in play, games, and tricks, eventually devising a memoir or story
of sorts, that eventually gets published. This leads Agnes, who really
handwrote the story that Fabienne narrates to her, obtaining an opportunity to
go away to study at a finishing school. Although the story seems far-fetched,
and maybe in a lesser writer the narrative would tumble out of control, Yiyun
Li creates an incredible story of attempting to define an identity among
incredibly challenging conditions. I found this part of the book the most
rewarding and the most infuriating. Agnes’s “teacher”, who spent time in Japan
and wants to be called Kazumi, similarly seeks to “reinvent” Agnes, taking her
from France to England, where she runs a home that finishes other young women.
During this time, Agnes and Fabienne continue to write to each other, but under
the pretense which “Kazumi” disagrees with. I was shocked to read about this
kind of challenge to one’s identity, goals, and desires, and how much what
Kazumi wanted dictated the actions Agnes had to take. It also challenged my
perceptions about parenting, and how sometimes we push our kids into things
because it’s what we imagine them wanting or needing, rather than seeing what
might actually be best for them. Not only does the book challenge how we think
about others, but it also challenges our ideas about literature and stories,
and how we sometimes take them at face value rather than looking at the
entertainment they may bring and how creating these kinds of fictional worlds
can be beneficial for us.
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