Silver Repetition

by Lily Wang

A young Asian immigrant mends her fractured sense of self in this exquisite coming-of-age debut novel about family, grief, and identity. Having left China for Canada with her parents as a child, Yuè Yuè yearns to discover who she is as she nears the end of her undergraduate degree and starts a new relationship. In urgent poetic fragments, she seeks common ground with her Canadian-born younger sister and grieves the beloved cousin she lost touch with back home. After Yuè Yuè receives a call from a girl making accusations, her date ghosts her. Meanwhile, her mother’s illness advances like snow. On a walk in the woods, Yuè Yuè sees a little girl digging in the mud, but when she peeks behind the curtain of black hair, her own face haunts her. In endless perfect loops of memory and dream, loss and return, Silver Repetition tenderly illuminates the fullness of identity despite fractures in language, culture, and relationships. In a moving reunion, Yuè Yuè’s cousin comes to visit and everyone is caught, laughing, in the rain. Despite the weight of grief, isolation, and difference, even the most delicate family bonds can knit together tightly enough for the future to overcome the past.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

264 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

Reviews

[Lily Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already read it

[Juliann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The places this book took me to… Lily Wang has my attention. Beautiful prose full of playful skips and frisks. Melting points between Mandarin and English, between the past and the present.

“Sometimes, the world has an exaggerated effect that I can’t bear—the sodden, saturated world paved with cement slabs and paths of mulch. Like the scales and tunic of a tulip bulb, I can store my entire life cycle underground, but sometimes, in a period of flowering, I feel at ease with the world without having to dull my senses, without having to part with my petals of grief, like life itself can twin my blue base, dual blue heart” (124).

Read it and wept.

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this didnt work for me. I put it down and picked up but sadly couldnt connect with the characters or feel of the story. Hope it works for others.
Maybe if i came back to it at another time i may be able to finish it.
Dnf at 90pages.

The writting style was choppy and it had an overal sadness to it that just seemed to bring me down reading it. It was an effort to read for me.

Thanks to the Author, publisher and Edelweiss+ for the ARC.

[Anna Julia Stainsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and haunting (in a way I will welcome forever). I will read whatever Lily writes next, also forever 💙

[Steph Percival · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Wang’s writing is gorgeous and refractive; Silver Repetition is a stunning read.

[milan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This left me awestruck. I will be giving it another read, but for now I'm in love with the family dynamics, the prose— especially how it surreal it is and the cavern of deep, tumultuous emotion that Yuè Yuè feels.

[Katia]

非常感谢 lily

wo ai Pleco Chinese Dictionary ❤️

[Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

What begins as a Bae Suah-esque wandering through contemporary life grows into a somewhat more conventional piece of childhood reminiscence, albeit not without the dreamlike blurring of memories into each other and memories with the present. This is a style that is typically very much up my alley, and this was no exception, as I adored these sad-nostalgic vignettes sandwiched between present-day introspection. Some passages did feel a bit overwritten to me, sometimes explaining too much or somehow putting too fine a point on the characterization, grasping at adjectives and adverbs to do so. But for every moment that may feel stylistically somewhat generic, there's another that feels utterly specific and yet another that feels genuinely inventive. I'm excited to see where Lily Wang goes from here, as this debut full-length novel was very compelling and showed promise in a style that can be difficult to inhabit.

Thank you to The New Press and NetGalley for the eARC.

[Matt JL · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books where you stop, go back and re-read paragraphs. Not because you lost your place, but because of how awe evoking the language and imagery was. Prose!

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly beautiful book - the descriptions of nature and food were especially particular and evocative! I thought it was interesting that the first part with Johnny ended up not being particularly impactful or in sync with the rest of the book (focusing much more on family, childhood, and a mother's journey through illness). It made the novel as a whole feel a little disjointed or like it has gotten off on the wrong foot, but I liked both parts regardless.

[Scott Zhang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite this not having come out yet i think its awesome

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5, struggled to finish this despite it being so short. There are a few really lovely images and fascinating descriptions but overall the stories didn't hold my attention and felt quite empty

[Natalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s almost winter.”
“Then it’s almost spring.”

Everything is cyclical; memory repeats itself on loop. I started this book with snow and turned into a river with the main character, melting away.

(It’ll make sense if you read this, too.)

[Jill Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. I read it in 2 days. Very enlightening.

[freyttsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to tell which direction this book was going in the first few chapters but I'm so glad I kept reading because it opened up to be a really beautiful and tender experience. It alternates between memory, dreams, and the present in a fragmented, torn, and heartwrenching way. I fell in love with Lily Wang's poetic prose and imagery, and the fluidity with which she moves through her experiences.

Thank you to The New Press, Lily Wang and Net Galley for the ARC!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

As soon as I heard about SILVER REPETITION by Lily Wang last year I knew I had to read it and it’s very, very good! This novel is written brilliantly exploring language and text in a poetic and tender way. I really enjoyed the use of Chinese characters, the fragmented sections, and the interplay between past and present amidst culture. This is a novel that I couldn’t put down and I’m still thinking about the dazzling writing structure!

Thank you to House of Anansi for my advance review copy!

[William Boutsakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

how to mark as read and want to read again

[Cheryle Barnes]

Worst book I ever tried to read.

[meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5) poetryyy

[Karis Dimas-Lehndorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read. I cannot emphasize enough how great this novel is. Lily writes about family with such truth. There's conflict, and tension, and that unshakable bond of love that stretches us in ways we cannot understand. Yuè Yuè, the protagonist, is finding her way and finding herself as her Mom struggles with illness. This is a story about dreams, memory, sisterhood, desires, feeling lost, and family. The characters are complicated and curious and the writing has a beautiful iridescent, fluid, slippery kind of quality. The poetic language pierces the heart and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Someone in my book club said that reading it feels like seeing these beautiful images in a puddle; when the wind shifts the image melts into some new other beautiful thing. Lily is so unbelievably talented. Their writing about the self we lose and find again (perhaps in others) is unlike anything I've read before. Highly recommend.

[Elizabeth O'Keefe · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was a bit hard to follow, dream, reality, back to when she was a child, what is really a memory versus real versus the dreams?

What really did me in was 3 pages of deng... I truly think maybe like three dengs would be appropriate, but three pages? overkill, and then the rest of the book just took a nose dive for me (this is around page 90ish).

I was really hoping this book would hit a little different, as the blurb about it seemed to be something I would like, but sadly, this was not the book for me.

Thank you Goodreads and publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Yolanda | yolandaannmarie.reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

This was… certainly something. Was there a cohesive plot? Hard to say. In fact, I don’t even know what genre I’d categorize this as.
The writing feels too blunt and disconnected.

There are pages upon pages with the word “deng” and it resembles what Tahereh Mafi did in her Shatter Me series with the pages of “I am not insane.”

There’s also this string of dialogue where the Chinese fmc says: “If I got to choose, I’d be a straight white male.”
And her boyfriend replies with: “Don’t say that. People want to be oppressed so bad.”

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life.

Best book I've ever read. If I could rate it more than 5 stars I would. This book is so :,) vibes in the most beautiful way like you dont understand. It will make you love your family more and make them love you more too. After I read this book I became a better person. Thank you Lily Wang for dropping the best piece of literature... wo ai ni

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. I feel really bad giving this book a low score but between the formatting and general lack of plot, I had a hard time finishing this. I think if you like and enjoy poetic writing, you’d enjoy this book more.

[Nancy Mcclenathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the unique writing style of this novel. It was like a gentle breeze flowing back and forth between past and present of a Chinese immigrant.

Thank you To New Press for this free copy to read.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is gorgeous. I found myself immersed in the world that Lily's words painted. So pretty that this definitely will be a physical buy as soon as it's on sale!

[Enid Wray]

Let's leave it that I am not the reader for this title.

DNF (and it's only 200 or so pages...)

[Madi Nation · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

[CLOVER · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sounded out all the pin yin out loud and tried my hardest to read the Mandarin printing but only recognized a few of the Chinese characters; "I," "you," and "to want."

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am struck by Johnny’s indifference and begin to feel the mistake I’m making. Sitting across from Johnny on an antique seat with fringed throws, ornate and flowery. Even my porcelain mug has been rubbed to a shine! I feel myself as I really am, an acquaintance.

We continually seem to be looking at the narrator through a barrier - fog, or frosted glass, or a sheet of thin ice - but this is how she seems to see herself - fragile, haunted and without substance, and possibly powerless to change what’s happening to her. I grew quite attached to Yuè Yuè, wanted the best for her, and would have smacked Johnny upside the head if I’d had the chance. The ending is as ethereal as the rest of the book and probably deserves a re-read. Yay Canadian writers!

I glance at my reflection blurred and doubled on the evening glass.
Little Yuè Yuè has become transparent, silver. I find glimpses of her in fresh water, in mirrors, on fish scales and fins. In Emily’s face, fragments of light in Emily’s eyes—even though she looks like Dad and I look more like Mom. Yuè Yuè, the word for “moon," uttered twice. Out of her small mouth: silver repetition. Out of the sky. Out of memory. Silver repetition.