Must I Go
by
Audrey Xia
I could never not like Yiyun Li’s writing – witty, introspective, sublime, but also heartfelt. However, Must I Go is for sure my least favourite by her so far. In this book, an old woman, nearing the end of her life, reflects on her experiences and memories by annotating on the diaries of a dead man, with whom she had a fleeting affair with when she was a young girl. It explores big questions like love, old age, family, generational trauma and much more.
In typical Yiyun Li fashion, this novel had very little plot, but reads more like an (albeit superficial, in my opinion) anatomy on the characters and their relationships with each other. The writing is almost always delicate and beautiful, but it seldom touches me deeply, and thus insufficient to maintain my interest in the story. The pacing of it does not help much – it was way too slow, and definitely feels more directionless than her later works.
I wonder if my indifference to it may be attributed to the fact that I may have read this at the wrong time in my life – I have yet to experience most of the things they talk about. I find almost every character bland, unrealistic and even annoying at times, and could not relate to any of them.
I’d have to give this one a solid 2.5/5.
Nevertheless, I look forward to reading her other books on subjects I would perhaps find easier to relate to.
