Things in Nature Merely Grow

「近年來最重要的書之一」——莎拉・柯林斯（SARA COLLINS）

「極少有作家能擁有李翊雲這樣的力量」——道格拉斯・斯圖爾特（DOUGLAS STUART）

「我此生將不斷回到這本書」——夏洛特・伍德（CHARLOTTE WOOD）

普立茲獎決選作家李翊雲（Yiyun Li）的這部驚人之作，以一種反叛而堅定的姿態，展現了徹底的接納。她在書中思索失去兒子詹姆斯（James）後的生命。

「這沒有什麼好說的方式。」李翊雲在書的一開頭寫道。

「這些事實必須被承認，卻無從用好聽的話說出。我和丈夫曾有兩個孩子，卻失去了他們兩個：文森特（Vincent）於2017年離世，當時16歲；詹姆斯於2024年離世，當時19歲。他們都選擇了自殺，都在離家不遠的地方走了。」

這沒有什麼好說的方式——因為語言無法承載這樣的重量。死亡成為事實只在一瞬之間，「成為時間線上的一個點」。如今活在這唯一的點上，李翊雲轉而思索、推理、尋找可能為詹姆斯留下一席之地的語言。她盡自己所能：不僅寫作，還從事園藝、閱讀卡繆與維根斯坦、學習彈鋼琴，並在死亡的陰影下繼續有意識地生活。

這是為詹姆斯寫的書，但不是一本關於悲傷的書。正如李翊雲所寫：「那個不會消亡的動詞是『存在』。文森特曾經存在、正在存在、將永遠存在。詹姆斯曾經存在、正在存在、將永遠存在。我們曾經是、現在是、將永遠是他們的父母。沒有過去與現在、現在與未來，只有當下、當下、當下、當下。」

《萬物生長無需原因》（Things in Nature Merely Grow）是李翊雲不屈精神的見證。

登上《紐約客》、《名利場》、《洛杉磯時報》、《時代》與《巴黎評論》。

「說這本勇敢的書是對愛的見證，都不足以形容。它會讓人深受觸動。」——《觀察家報》

「這是一本關於失去的書，但與我讀過的任何書都不同……是一座無法忘懷的堅韌紀念碑。」——《星期日泰晤士報》

「堅決不流於煽情，卻可能以情感的力量讓你窒息。」——《衛報》

「這是一本不同於其他的回憶錄，陌生又深刻，且以驚人的決心不曾移開目光。」——《紐約時報》

「一本非凡之作。」——莎拉・莫斯（SARAH MOSS）

「這是一本關於活著，而非死亡的宣言，一本關於如何忍受最不可想像之痛的書。」——希妮德・格里森（SINÉAD GLEESON），刊於《The Week》

「深刻探索一位母親如何在失去孩子的世界中繼續生活。」——《時代雜誌》

「李翊雲驚人的記錄，展現她如何選擇接納而非絕望。」——《洛杉磯時報》

「這是一本與我讀過的任何書都不同的作品，充滿罕見的清晰與智慧，滿溢著愛與關懷。它將長久留存在我心中。」——塞西爾・潘（CECILE PIN）

'One of the most important books to be published in years' SARA COLLINS

'There are few writers with Li’s power' DOUGLAS STUART

'I will return to it for the rest of my life' CHARLOTTE WOOD

A remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance from acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li as she considers the loss of her son James.

'There is no good way to say this,' Yiyun Li writes at the beginning of this book.

'There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.'

There is no good way to say this – because words fall short. It takes only an instant for death to become fact, 'a single point in a timeline'. Living now on this single point, Li turns to thinking and reasoning and searching for words that might hold a place for James. Li does what she can: including not just writing but gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, learning the piano, and living thinkingly alongside death.

This is a book for James, but it is not a book about grieving. As Li writes, 'The verb that does not die is to be. Vincent was and is and will always be Vincent. James was and is and will always be James. We were and are and will always be their parents. There is no now and then, now and later, only, now and now and now and now.' Things in Nature Merely Grow is a testament to Li’s indomitable spirit.

As seen in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, LA Times, TIME, and the Paris Review.

'To state that this courageous book is a testament to love is an understatement. One is left altered by it' OBSERVER

'A story of loss that is unlike any other book I've read … an unforgettable monument to endurance' SUNDAY TIMES

'Resolutely unsentimental, and yet it might wind you with its emotional force' GUARDIAN

'A memoir unlike others, strange and profound and fiercely determined not to look away' NEW YORK TIMES

'An extraordinary book’ SARAH MOSS

'A manifesto of living, not dying, and of how we endure the most unimaginable things' SINÉAD GLEESON, in THE WEEK

'A profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children’TIME

‘Li’s astonishing record of how she has chosen acceptance over despair'LA TIMES

‘A book unlike any I've read, that brims with rare clarity and intelligence, with love and care. It will stay with me for a long time’ CECILE PIN