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Archive for the ‘Yiyun Li’ Category

Yiyun Li–“A Sheltered Woman” (New Yorker, March 10, 2014)

Posted in Babies, Fears, Federico Aubele, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Parenting, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Yiyun Li on June 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_03_10_14Steininger.inddSOUNDTRACK: FEDERICO AUBELE-Tiny Desk Concert #350 (April 21, 2014).

faFederico Aubele is an Argentinian singer-songwriter.  He sings in both Spanish and English. And in this Tiny Desk Concert, he plays pretty guitar solos between songs which makes the three songs all seem like one long piece.

His guitar playing is clean and beautiful on the nylon string guitar.  He plays in the quintessential “South American”/”classical” style [some might even call this Flamenco, Paul].  And his voice is low and deep but also expressive.

The three songs here are “Laberinto Del Ayer,” “This Song,” and “Somewhere Else.”  They are each quite pretty and melancholy.  And when he starts speaking in Spanish at the end of the third song, his voice is definitely enticing.

[READ: June 10, 2014] “A Sheltered Woman”

In this story, the second or third I’ve read by Yiyun Li, the main character is an older women who goes by the name of Auntie Mei.  Auntie Mei is a first month nanny–she stays for only the first month, to make sure that the mother is breastfeeding correctly and that everyone is prepared to move on–her skills are very specific to the first month.  And she is in very high demand among Chinese immigrants.

She has worked for 126 families in the last eleven years.  And she never gets attached to any of the families–calling each mother Ma and each child The Baby.

With this new mother who, like all the other mothers is Chinese (but who wants to be called Chanel), Auntie Mei is having a bit of a hard time.  The mother is disinterested in her baby, claims to have postpartum depression (Auntie Mei says “Don’t speak nonsense”) and even had a dream that she drowned her baby in the toilet.  Mostly, Chanel is angry that her husband is not around–he has been away on business since the baby was born.  We later learn about the strange details of their marriage.

Auntie Mei tries not to get involved.  She keeps telling Chanel (and others in the story not to tell her details).  She feeds Chanel a thick soup (designed for breastfeeding) and massages her breasts when she does not produce milk.  But after a few days Chanel says she quits and leaves the baby entirely in Auntie Mei’s charge.  Auntie Mei protests but she can’t allow the baby to die so she takes over.  Chanel simply watches TV and complains–she won’t even go buy groceries. (more…)

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Yiyun Li–“The Science of Flight” (New Yorker, August 30, 2010) [RECONSIDERED]

Posted in 20 Under 40, cuppa joe, Dromedary Records, New Yorker, Short Story, Travel, Yiyun Li on February 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: cuppa joe-“Better in Your Head” (2012).

After an eternity (okay, 18 years), Cuppa Joe is back with another release on Dromedary Records.  Things have changed over the years in cuppa joe’s world.  Their previous release, nurture was a delightful twee pop confection.  This track (you can see the video here) adds an unexpected depth to their catalog.

The first change comes from the minor chord guitar strums; the second comes from the bass, which is following its own cool riff–although it melds nicely with the verse, it’s unexpected from cuppa joe.  The pace of the song is much slower than the frantic songs on nurture.  Even the vocals, while noticably cuppa joe, seem less so–call it a more mature version of the vocals. Indeed, the whole sounds seems to have relinquished their more childlike qualities  and embraced a more mature outlook.

This could be a death knell for a band, but not in this case.  All of their songwriting sensibilities remain intact.  Indeed, they have added a wonderful new component: terrific harmonies in the chorus (which may have been there before, but which really stand out here).

It would almost seem like an entirely new band (18 years will do that to you).  But rather than a new band it’s like an old band coming out of a coocoon like a butterfly.  (That’s too treacly, sorry guys–maybe we’ll just stick with them being older and wiser.  Welcome back guys.

The new cuppa joe album Tunnel Trees is available here.

[READ: September 8, 2010] “The Science of Flight”

I read this story in September of 2010.  I liked it but I wasn’t that impressed by it.  Well, it turns out I either skipped or missed an important section of the story.  So I’m trying again.  here’s the start of my original post

Yiyun Li’s is one of the 20 Under 40 from the New Yorker.  This story (which I assume is not an excerpt) is about Zichen.  Zichen (whose name is unpronounceable to Westerners) emigrated from China to live in America with her then new husband.

As the story opens, we see Zichen at work at an animal-care center.  She is talking with her coworkers about her upcoming visit to England (this will be her first-ever vacation that is not to China).  The men are teasing her about the trip (why would she want to go to the ocean in the winter, she doesn’t know anyone there, etc).  The teasing is friendly, because they are friendly, although Zichen is very reserved around them.  Of course, of all the people she has known, she has opened up to them the most–which still isn’t very much.

That much is accurate.  However, the rest of my post about this story is completely (and rather ineptly, I must admit) incorrect.  Recently, Carol Schoen commented on my original post and informed me that I was a bonehead (although she said it much more politely than that).  I had completely missed the point of this story the first time around.  And indeed, re-reading it this time, I can’t help but wonder what happened last time.

Zichen is a bastard, literally.  She was born our of wedlock to a man who ran away.  In China, this was like compounding one sin atop another one.  Her grandmother agreed to raise her (after a failed adoption) more or less to spite Zichen’s mother, provided Zichen’s mother had nothing to so with her.  And so, Zichen’s grandmother worked in her shop extra long hours to care for a child who was a visible symbol of the family’s disgrace.  (I seem to have gotten the point about her grandmother raising her, but seem to have missed the important part about her parents not being in her life at all). (more…)

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Yiyun Li–“The Science of Flight” (New Yorker, August 30, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Footstone, Friends Romans Countrymen, New Yorker, Short Story, Travel, Yiyun Li on September 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN-I am Spartacus (2010).

I’ve been aware of Friends, Romans, Countrymen for a number of years, but I’d never heard them.  The bio on the Dromedary site suggests that they broke up some time around 2003.  So, I’m not entirely sure if this CD was released back then or if this is the first time it’s seeing the light of day.

I’ve been streaming the disc all day (and yes, I will buy it as soon as can find my wallet, which, no is not in El Segundo–ooh, old school!)).  I don’t know if it’s my crappy work headphones but the recording sounds distorted in a way that makes me think it was recorded too loud.  Of course as I say it could be the headphones.

Getting beyond that, the band reminds me a lot of middle era Hüsker Dü.  They don’t sound like them necessarily, but the feel: noisy guitars, kind of sloppy (but cool) solos, smooth vocals (at times there is definitely a resemblance to Bob Mould) and harmonies, and fast, rocking beats.

The Dromedary site calls them “burly pop-core” and that’s a really apt description.  The opening song is a tribute to a fellow New Jersey band: “The Day Footstone Died.”  (Footstone’s releases have been covered here).  It’s got some great catchy guitars and a great bridge.  (And the live version that’s on the site sounds like the band never broke up).

There’s some really interesting guitar sounds on “Lee1Blu” (as well as some cool harmonies).  The rest of the disc is equally infectious, all the way down to the two closing instrumentals, “Warm” and, um, “Instrumental.”

So you get about 40 minutes of pretty fine, pretty loud alt-rock.  You can stream the disc (and buy it) here.

[READ: September 8, 2010] “The Science of Flight”

So this post really missed the point of the story.  If you read the comments below you’ll get more details.  Because of the comment, I have re-posted about the story.  You can read it here.

———-

Yiyun Li’s is one of the 20 Under 40 from the New Yorker.  This story (which I assume is not an excerpt) is about Zichen.  Zichen (whose name is unpronounceable to Westerners) emigrated from China to live in America with her then new husband.

As the story opens, we see Zichen at work at an animal-care center.  She is talking with her coworkers about her upcoming visit to England (this will be her first-ever vacation that is not to China).  The men are teasing her about the trip (why would she want to go to the ocean in the winter, she doesn’t know anyone there, etc).  The teasing is friendly, because they are friendly, although Zichen is very reserved around them.  Of course, of all the people she has known, she has opened up to them the most–which still isn’t very much. (more…)

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20 Under 40 (New Yorker, June 14 & 21, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, C.E. Morgan, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, Chris Adrian, Daniel Alarcón, David Bezmozgis, Dinaw Mengestu, Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Safran Foer, Joshua Ferris, Karen Russell, Nell Freudenberger, New Yorker, Nicole Krauss, Philip Meyer, Rivka Galchen, Salvatore Scibona, Sarah Shun-lein Bynum, Short Story, Téa Obreht, Wells Tower, Yiyun Li, ZZ Packer on June 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This week’s New Yorker contains a list of the 20 authors under age 40 that they predict we’ll be talking about for years to come.  Their criteria:

did we want to choose the writers who had already proved themselves or those whom we expected to excel in years to come? A good list, we came to think, should include both.

They have published eight of these authors in the current issue and are publishing the remaining 12 over the next 12 weeks.  I’m particularly excited that they chose to do this now.  Since I’m currently involved in two big book projects, it’s convenient to be able to read a whole bunch of short stories to intersperse between big posts.

I’ve read half of the authors already (likely in The New Yorker and McSweeney‘s).  And have heard of many of the others.   The list is below: (more…)

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