Adult Review August 2026

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

There are few writers I know who have mastery and full control over words as Yiyun Li.

This qualification, I believe is necessary when you write two books upon the loss of two sons to suicide. The first book Where Reasons End is written for Vincent. The second, Things in Nature Merely Grow is for James, and captures – with sparse prose the essence of losing James, the sense of losing oneself within loss – not a loss of control, nor a loss of conserving emotions, but as falling into an abyss. Li is in full control of her emotions and presents the story of James, of family past, present and future with a clear voice that is spared adjectives because as she writes, James was direct and preferred logic. Li describes this as the now and now and now where children die, and parents go on livin

g. As a reader the abyss is palpable, and haunting as the narrator realizes there is no freeing oneself from the abyss, but shall forever merely carry on in a Sisyphean motion. It is a book best allowed to breath, so the words can carry their full weight – though only 172 pages it is a clear eyed tome.

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Rough Description: Love Letters and Ghost Stories from a Life in Music by Don Pyle

There are many ways to approach writing one’s history.  The most obvious is to start at point A and travel to point B.

Don Pyle has a lot to write about as a gay man growing up in Toronto during the 1980s, and has chosen a messier path where events interlock, shift and evolve into something much bigger. What we learn about the drummer from Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet and Pyle’s life in music carries more weight because we learn alongside Pyle as he remembers events and people.

Like a good drummer whose rhythm propels the band, music propels Rough Description, events and people come into focus and take their solos – many become ghosts: Louie Beeson, Reid Diamond, Wendy Coburn, Steve Albini and Dallas Good. While many events are tragic, Pyle never loses his sense of humor to remind readers of forgotten things without being overbearing: the 1980s AIDS epidemic, rampant homophobia, and an intolerant United States. Some readers may even find themselves back at a long forgotten Shadowy Men’s show.

In the end readers, feel the complete sense of Pyle’s world and the deep love that he has for the life he has created.  As a long time fan of Pyle’s music, it was a joy to see him at Kitchener Public Library. 

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This month’s adult review was written by Mike Clark, an Aqusitions Associate at Library Bound.