A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

LI, Yiyun.

$400.00

Item Number: 102837

New York: Random House, 2005.

First edition of Li’s first book. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “Life provides more happiness than we ever know. We have to train ourselves to look for it. For Adrienne with warmest regards, Yiyun Li.” Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Allison Saltzman.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is the debut short story collection by Yiyun Li. It is the author's first book of fiction. Two of the stories were adapted into films: the title story and The Princess of Nebraska, both directed by Wayne Wang. Writing in The Guardian, Michel Faber notes that "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is the best possible revenge against the insular simple-mindedness that once ruled Chinese literature." "Li is a valuable firsthand guide to this decade of mind-bending change" and "Li's ability to write about both her native and adoptive countries [...] makes her a skillful double agent" (The New York Times).