Things in nature merely grow by Yiyun Li
"Children die, and parents go on living."
This could be said to be the central thesis of the book. Li and her husband lost both of their teenage sons to suicide, six years apart. It's a stunning, dismantling fact. This book is Li's attempt, I suppose, to make some kind of 'sense' of that fact. She's not asking 'Why?' so much as 'And so now what?' Along with this we get a picture of Vincent and James (brothers and best friends) and their unique sensibilities.
I was both deeply moved and comforted by this book. Comfort is maybe not what you would expect to find here, but I think Li has managed to weave together both sorrow and solace. I don't have children, but I have lost a loved one to suicide, and much of the book resonated with me and my experience of this kind of loss. I was awed by Li's strength and vulnerability and I will be thinking about her words for a long time, and I'll be seeking out more of her work.
This won't be a book for everyone, but I do think everyone would be able to glean something from it, and particularly if suicide has touched their lives.