Things in Nature Merely Grow

Things in Nature Merely Grow is a memoir by Yiyun Li that confronts an unimaginable family tragedy with courage and radical acceptance. In a candid, intimate voice, Li reflects on losing both of her children to suicide—Vincent in 2017 and James in 2024—and the long, ongoing process of honoring their memory. The book weaves personal grief with meditations on nature, daily life, and the search for language to hold what cannot be easily spoken. It offers a profound portrait of a mother’s love and resilience, exploring how gardening, reading Camus and Wittgenstein, and learning the piano become ways to live thoughtfully alongside loss. With clarity and honesty, Li invites readers into a space where sorrow and endurance intersect, presenting a testament to endurance and the limits—and possibilities—of bearing pain.

The work has been widely acclaimed as a necessary, courageous meditation on living after loss. It is described as a “manifesto of living, not dying” and noted for its spare, relentless honesty. The book challenges conventional narratives about mourning, offering a quiet, steadfast approach to memory and presence in everyday life. Li’s writing has been praised for its beauty and its unwavering fidelity to truth, making this a deeply personal yet universally resonant account.

• Memoir about a mother’s response to the suicide of two children
• Emphasizes radical acceptance and living with loss
• Includes gardening, reading, and music as coping practices
• Praised for its spare, precise, compassionate prose
• Won major literary awards and received critical acclaim
• 192 pages, paperback, first edition

Features

• Memoir of losing two children and mother’s love
• Focus on radical acceptance and memory
• Daily practices amid grief: gardening, reading, piano
• Acclaimed by critics; award-winner reader appeal
• Clear, intimate, unflinching narrative voice
• Short, contemplative reflections on nature and life