num_pages: 220
description: Brilliant and original, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers introduces a remarkable new writer whose breathtaking stories are set in China and among Chinese Americans in the United States. In this rich, astonishing collection, Yiyun Li illuminates how mythology, politics, history, and culture intersect with personality to create fate. From the bustling heart of Beijing, to a fast-food restaurant in Chicago, to the barren expanse of Inner Mongolia, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers reveals worlds both foreign and familiar, with heartbreaking honesty and in beautiful prose.“Immortality,” winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for new writers, tells the story of a young man who bears a striking resemblance to a dictator and so finds a calling to immortality. In “The Princess of Nebraska,” a man and a woman who were both in love with a young actor in China meet again in America and try to reconcile the lost love with their new lives.“After a Life” illuminates the vagaries of marriage, parenthood, and gender, unfolding the story of a couple who keep a daughter hidden from the world. And in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” in which a man visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter, only to discover that all is not as it seems, Li boldly explores the effects of communism on language, faith, and an entire people, underlining transformation in its many meanings and incarnations.These and other daring stories form a mesmerizing tapestry of revelatory fiction by an unforgettable writer.
language: English
title: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
titlecomplete: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
genres: China, American, Asian Literature, 21st Century, Short Stories, Asia, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 3523
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Orange Prize
category: New Writers, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Guardian First Book Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: California Book Award
category: First Fiction (Silver), awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Kiriyama Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks