• Kinder Than Solitude

  • By: Yiyun Li
  • Narrated by: Angela Lin
  • Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
  • 3.2 out of 5 stars (37 ratings)

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Kinder Than Solitude  By  cover art

Kinder Than Solitude

By: Yiyun Li
Narrated by: Angela Lin
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Publisher's summary

When Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang were young, they were involved in a mysterious “accident” in which a friend of theirs was poisoned. Grown up, the three friends are separated by distance and personal estrangement. Moran and Ruyu live in the United States, Boyang in China; all three are haunted by what really happened in their youth, and by doubt about themselves. In California, Ruyu helps a local woman care for her family and home, and avoids entanglements, as she has done all her life. In Wisconsin, Moran visits her ex-husband, whose kindness once overcame her flight into solitude. In Beijing, Boyang struggles to deal with an inability to love, and with the outcome of what happened among the three friends 20 years ago.

©2014 Yiyun Li (P)2014 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Kinder Than Solitude

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Uninteresting, unsympathetic characters

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone with a lot of patience

Has Kinder Than Solitude turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The themes were promising, but I found it impossible to care about the characters.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Big dissapointment

One reviewer suggested this novel would have benefited from much stricter editing. I am not one to agree with that optimistic assessment. I simply wish I had back the time spent reading and listening to this. The dialogue is Randian (and that is most definitely not a compliment), the characters and plot are both poor and poorly developed, and the author's use of changes in perspective and timing come across as purely for display, ineffective at that. Random observations, trite musings, and the collection of phrase-turns don't help, either. I had thought the author was male given the plasticity of the female characters, which is a reminder to keep an open mind. Regrettably, the narration also disappoints.

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