Praise for The Years, Months, Days * A New York Times Editors' Choice
* One of Bookforum's Best Book of the Year, chosen by Colm Tóibín "Yan Lianke creates imaginary wounds in real blood . . . His books read like the brutal folklore history couldn't bear to remember." -
New York Times Book Review "Filled with a deep melancholy mixed with a ghostly comedy and a rare sort of narrative energy. Utterly unpredictable and brilliantly weird." -
Colm Tóibín, Bookforum "[Yan's] characters inhabit a bleak, harsh world. In bitterly hard circumstances, they show courage and ingenuity, defiance and grace. His renderings of real-world desolations are imaginative and wondrous; these austere fables are minimal, but beautifully composed." -
Shelf Awareness "
The Years, Months, Days finds the Chinese master at the top of his game . . . His satirical eye and generous heart are finely rendered." -
Toronto Star "[Yan's novellas] showcase his hallucinatory imagination and satiric wit." -
BBC "Lianke paints vivid scenes of desolate circumstances with an incredible mastery of words and control of his imagery. His masterpieces are sure to engage readers." -
Booklist (starred review)
"These two compelling novellas both exalt emotional bonds and warn against their fatal consequences . . . this work again directs the author's unflinching gaze on life's impossible absurdities, exposing a surreal mixture of brutality, openness, even sly humor." -
Library Journal (starred review)
"Lianke's talent for the fantastical shines in this collection of two novellas . . . Though they contain dark subject matter, Lianke's fables of personal sacrifice are also sharply observed and funny. Lianke's narratives feel much larger than their page count suggest, almost epic." -
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Apocalyptic, eerie visions in two novellas by much-honored Chinese writer Yan . . . Inspired, one imagines, by the terrible headlines of famine, climate change, and simple uncertainty; Yan draws on the conventions of folklore and science fiction alike to produce memorable literature." -
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
