Book Review: "Wednesday's Child" by Yiyun Li

She wished that nature had installed a different system for people to choose their genealogy - not by their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents but by the books they read, a genealogy that could be deliberately, purposefully and revocably created and maintained...

- Wednesday's Child by Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li is perhaps one of the most exciting authors I have encountered in a long time. My reading journey started off with her novel 'The Book of Goose', which was an incredible mixture of mischief and deception and now, as I step into a new realm of this journey, I am met with a short story anthology titled 'Wednesday's Child'. From the outset of discovering the book, I could kind of work out what the title meant as we were probably being referred to that age-old English poem where it goes 'Wednesday's child is full of woe...' with the child born mid-week being the only one with sadness attached to it (thank God I was born on a Thursday!). This means that Yiyun Li showcases another hidden talent: writing that woe. Let's have a look at the highlights of this book then.

The anthology begins with the title story. The story 'Wednesday's Child' stars a mother who is carrying notebooks, thinking about literature and altogether worries with undertones of sadness littering her thoughts. Her child is someone who is passionate and kind of over the top and the mother must deal with something that takes place which is almost, according to her own mother and her intrusive thoughts, a kind of karma. Honestly, to start off the book in this way is so dramatic and so much like Yiyun Li, but I have to admit it is far more upsetting than what I have read of her previously. However, it is still just as immersive.

“There are two types of mothers: those who have not taught their children to be kind to themselves, and those who have not learned to be kind to their children.”

Another story is called 'Such a Common Life' which follows two women, one who is the carer of the other, and how their lives intertwine. It covers how both of them had a past, have a present (no matter how different they aer), and yet still have a future. Plans do not simply come and go, they stick around no matter the state of the human being. It is a beautiful and evocative story with a tone that is almost rather sad at times. We have lots of lamenting which sort of sounds like some of the chapters of 'The Book of Goose' with less of the dark humour that follows.

The stories each deal with not only ageing but coming to terms with death and grief, whilst also dealing with some aspects of immigrant culture. Yiyun Li explores this and more in stories like 'A Sheltered Woman'. Her stories are not just limited to women either, but the vast majority of them have a hurt woman at their core, or some sort of generational trauma that a mother or a child must deal with.

Yiyun Li's writing has made her one of the most sought after writers for the reading of contemporary tragedy literature and yet, she continues to evolve, putting the reader and their thoughts at the centre of not just what might happen but also how it may impact them emotionally afterwards. I didn't stop thinking about 'The Book of Goose' for a long time after I read it and I don't think I will stop thinking about 'Wednesday's Child' either. Yiyun Li continues to prove she is a superpower of storytelling.

All in all, if you're looking for a contemporary anthology with a lot of deep thoughts, profound analysis of motherhood and movement and writing that can bring tears to your eyes - then I would say look no further than this book of great stories by Yiyun Li. I am sure that I will read another book by her now that I know there is so much more in her bibliography to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I am sure that you will too. It is an amazing anthology that works on so many levels.