Lilia is an octogenarian in a rest home reflecting on her life through engaging with the published diaries of a minor writer, Roland Bouley, who, unbeknownst to him, fathered her first child when she was just sixteen. Lilia is strong-willed and capable. And, knowing that Roland was unlikely to return, she managed to gather another willing candidate in less than a week to take on the job of becoming her husband and the father of her unborn child. Gilbert and Lilia go on to have five more children together but it is that first child, Lucy, the product of Lilia’s liaison with Roland, who is the focus of her attention. This, in large part because Lucy killed herself as a young mother leaving behind an infant girl of her own whom Lilia and Gilbert go on to raise as their own child. Now, all these years later, Lilia seems to be looking for something in Roland’s diaries that connects to the daughter he never knew he had, something that might possibly explain what Lilia herself failed to see in Lucy.

There are numerous strong women in this novel — Lilia, Sidelle, Hetty, and, possibly also Lucy. Any one of them would have made a captivating focus for a novel. Unfortunately Yiyun Li has us spend most of our time with Roland, a feckless young man who, despite grandiose claims of novelistic ambition, never accomplishes much of anything. Moreover, although he has a wealth of experiences from across America, Asia, and Europe, he never seems to develop or mature. He is as weak and self-interested at the end of his long life as he was back in 1946 when he met Lilia. He makes for a tiresome companion over nearly 350 pages.

Death stalks this novel. Quite apart from Lucy’s suicide, there are numerous others, as well as accidental and untimely deaths aplenty, not to mention the fallout of two world wars. But it is Yiyun Li’s personal history — her own suicide attempts and her son’s successful suicide — that lurk behind my reading of the novel. It was very hard to get past those and treat the suicides in the novel as no more than that, novelistic flotsam. It’s possible that without this background knowledge this novel might have come across very differently to me. But would any reading bring these characters fully to life? Somehow I don’t think so.

Once again I’ve been impressed by Yiyun Li’s care and craft yet I find the result just as disappointing (I won’t say disheartening) as previous efforts. Still, I hold out hope for her next project, whatever that might be.

Not recommended. ( )