RaveReadings (AUS)The latest work to be translated into English from the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, Han Kang, is finally here, and it’s pulled off a rare feat. By encapsulating everything she stands for as a writer, it is both a more than worthy entry point for new readers, and a literary feast that rewards long-term readers of her work.
Yiyun Li
RaveReadings (AUS)I was truly unprepared for what a perverse marvel this book turned out to be. Like many character-driven novels, a quick run-down of the plot can only go so far as to prepare you for the trove of meaning contained in Yiyun Li’s latest story. The Book of Goose is a tremendous psychological excavation of obsessive female friendship, the act of creation and what it means to be at odds with the world. Destructive co-dependency coupled with the ending of their childhoods lead Li’s two main characters on an inevitable trajectory of fate and tragedy, and I could not look away. There is such a rich, propulsive poignancy to the prose that makes this novel feel like something only Li could write. It retains the dry wit that I so enjoyed in her 2019 novel, Where Reasons End, but offers a more satisfying, well-rounded story where a second read will be just as rewarding as the first ... Fans of Elena Ferrante and Ottessa Moshfegh will enjoy what may just be Yiyun Li’s best work yet.
