by Yiyun Li
Questions and Topics for Discussion
For “Extra”
Consider Granny Lin and Kang. How is each an “extra”? What explains their bond?
Granny Lin cherishes her time with Kang as her “brief love story” (p. 22). What does she mean by this? Granny Lin also believes that “to love someone is to want to please him, even when one is not able to” (p. 19). How does this hold true in her friendship with Kang? How would you describe what it means to truly love someone?
Why does Granny Lin think the truth is futile? Discuss her reaction to Old Tang’s death, and to Kang’s disappearance. Why doesn’t Granny defend herself? How do other characters in A Thousand Years of Good Prayers view the possibility for achieving truth and justice?
For “After A Life”
Why did Jian’s birth turn the Sus’s relationship cold, although the challenge of Beibei’s condition did not? Why were Mr. and Mrs. Su able to share misfortune, but not happiness?
Imagine the questions that Mr. Su never gathered the courage to ask Mrs. Su. What might he want to ask her, in his deepest heart? Why does he decide, instead, that “things unsaid had better remain so” (p. 40)?
Discuss the theme of shame in “After a Life,” and the many forms it takes in both the Su and Fong families. Does anyone overcome the weight of shame? Who deals with it best? Who hides it and remains imprisoned by it? What roles do honor and dishonor play throughout the entire collection of stories?
For “Immortality”
Describe the identity of the narrator of “Immortality.” What atmosphere does this collective voice create?
Assess the complex attitudes of the people toward the Great Papas, the dictator, and the impersonator. How are these cultural figures—heroes and villains both—“larger than the universe” (p. 53) yet vulnerable to time? Do they achieve immortality in the hearts and minds of the people?
Yiyun Li presents the history of China through aphorism, mythology and storytelling. What does one gain from such a literary portrayal that one does not through history books?
For “The Princess of Nebraska”
“The Princess of Nebraska” is set in the heartland of America, during a small street parade. Discuss the juxtaposition of each character’s life in China with his or her new experiences in America. How do they each react in this new environment?
Sasha believes that “moving on” (p. 69) is an American concept that suits her well. Do you agree that Americans have a unique ability to start fresh and forget the past? Do you see this optimism reflected in other cultures, or would you agree that it is an American outlook? Later, Sasha says Americans are “born to be themselves, naïve and contented with their naivety” (p. 78). Describe the insights behind this appraisal. Do you agree or disagree? What does this story reveal about Chinese and American psyches, and how do these revelations resonate throughout the entire book?
At the end of “The Princess of Nebraska,” what do you think Sasha decides to do about the baby?
For “Love in the Marketplace”
Why does Sansan love the movie Casablanca so dearly? In what ways does it encompass “all she wants to teach the students about life?” (p. 95)
Discuss Sansan’s sacrifice. Did she act virtuously or foolishly? What lies beneath her fierce attachment to the notion of her own “nobleness” (p. 102)? Later, why is Sansan so tenderly affected by the beggar in the marketplace, and his “promise”?
For “Son”
Think about Sansan in “Love in the Marketplace,” Han in “Son,” and Mr. Shi’s daughter in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.” How are the children of this generation in China, now adults, breaking away from the traditions of, and duties to, their parents?
What moves Han to reveal the long-kept secret of his sexuality to his mother? Were you surprised by her reaction? Is Han’s mother as “traditional” as he believes?
For “The Arrangement”
Why does Ruolan’s mother refuse a divorce? What is the “arrangement” that she has worked out with Uncle Bing and Ruolan’s father?
Uncle Bing says he’s “one of those fools who puts a magic leaf in front of his eyes and then stops seeing mountains and seas” (p. 143). What does this mean? Have you ever fallen victim to a similar preoccupation?
For “Death Is Not A Bad Joke If Told The Right Way”
What does Mrs. Pang mean when she says “Nobody knows who he will become tomorrow?” (p. 152) What does this sentiment reveal about life in China?
Discuss the importance of Mr. Du’s orchids. Why is Mr. Du happy when they go out of fashion? What do the orchids mean to him?
Do you think Mrs. Pang have been proud of Mr. Pang at the end of his life, as the girl believes?
For “Persimmons”
Describe the view of life and death that the villagers hold. Is existence controlled by fate? God? Man? Consider, also, their attitude toward the possibility for justice.
For “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”
Describe the emotional barriers to communication in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.” Are Mr. Bing and his daughter able to express their feelings? Why? Does language hinder or promote their abilities? How does the power to communicate in a new language make one “a new person” (p. 199)?
Yiyun Li sets many of her stories in her homeland of China. What is the spirit of the people like there? What mood pervades the workers’ lives? How would you describe the way characters such as Granny Kang, Mr. and Mrs. Su, Sansan, and Mr. Du, respond to adversity?
Discuss your impressions of the world and the characters that Yiyun Li has created. Draw comparisons and contrasts between the stories in the collection as a whole. Which story is the most memorable or the most powerful for you and why? What themes are woven throughout the entire collection? What images or feelings emerge when you think of the collection as a whole?
YIYUN LI grew up in Beijing and attended Peking University. She came to the United States in 1996 to study medicine and started writing two years later. After receiving a master’s degree in immunology from the University of Iowa, she attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she received an MFA. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Prospect, The Best American Short Stories and elsewhere. She won The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for new writers. Her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story award and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award for a distinguished first book of fiction. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their two sons.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
2006 Random House Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Yiyun Li
Reading group guide copyright © 2006 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
READER’S CIRCLE and colophon are trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
“Immortality” and “Persimmons” were originally published in
The Paris Review, in the Fall 2003 and Fall 2004 issues, respectively.
“Extra” was originally published in The New Yorker ,
in the December 22 & 29, 2003, issue.
“The Princess of Nebraska” was originally published in
Ploughshares, in the Winter 2004 issue.
“Death Is Not a Bad Joke If Told the Right Way,” was originally
published in Glimmer Train, in the Spring 2005 issue.
“After a Life” was orig
inally published in Prospect ,
in the April 2005 issue.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Li, Yiyun.
A thousand years of good prayers / by Yiyun Li.
p. cm.
I. Title.
PL2946.Y59T46 2005
813’.6—dc22 2004062891
www.thereaderscircle.com
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-43051-9
v3.0