This was a very frustrating read for me, because I wanted so badly to love it and just couldn’t. It’s a book with many qualities that I’m drawn to: clever prose, intense adolescent female friendship, an English boarding school. But as a reader who loves characters, I found the central pair of friends (teenagers Agnes and Fabienne, living in rural poverty in France after World War 2) challenging to connect with in different ways. Agnes, the narrator, is a void where a personality should be. She’s mostly defined in opposition to Fabienne, but in ways that feel very surface level: Fabienne is active, Agnes is passive. Fabienne is willful, Agnes subsumes her will to Fabienne’s. Fabienne is impetuous, Agnes is reserved. You may think that Fabienne is the more interesting character and you would be right, but we only see her through Agnes’s eyes and Agnes seems to find her inscrutable, or at least inarticulable. The writing almost feels like it undercuts any emotional power the novel threatens to demonstrate, often refusing to let story beats breathe before making a droll comment on them. It just never came together to draw me in. ( )

Perhaps I am not a candidate for coming of age tales even though Li is a favorite author for other titles. Lovely writing and a good start but midway I lost interest and my detachment had me close the book. Other library patrons were lining up.

Very easy to read and the plot kept me reading, but in the end, I’m not sure I understood it. ( )

i don't get it ( )

3.75/5 stars rounded to 4 stars

I found the first third of this book to be brilliant and was thoroughly invested in Fabienne and Agnes's relationship. However, as the story progressed, I felt as if I was growing distant from the connection I had immediately made with those two characters. I couldn't help but feel that the back end of this book felt rushed. For a book just under 350 pages, it didn't feel like a whole lot happened.. or rather, a lot happened but none of it felt overly impactful. There was so much more that I wanted from these characters and this narrative, but none of those things were fully fleshed out or brought to light. I'm eager to read more of Yiyun Li's work as I found her writing incredibly stunning. While I did really enjoy this book, I think I just expected a tad bit more. ( )