The New Yorker: Fiction cover image

Jamil Jan Kochai Reads Yiyun Li

The New Yorker: Fiction

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Is There a Relationship Between Lily and Tuan?

After decades, Tuan is still crying for Lily. And sort of incredibly this man's poor wife is seemingly not bothered by his devotion to his girlfriend from when he was 17. She's lived a shadow life with Lily on her bedside table. When we get that first reference to the photo, the photo that Lily showed me, what can I say? Years later, after my son died, I felt a constant ache similar to what I had felt for Lily and the boy when I saw them in the photo. So it's this beautiful movement in terms of time as well and emotional longing.

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