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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Yiyun Li’s memoir Things in Nature Merely Grow is an account of losing both of her sons to suicide: Vincent, who died in 2017 at sixteen, and James, who died in 2024 at nineteen. Farrar, Straus and Giroux published it in the United States, and the Pulitzer Prizes named it the 2026 winner in Memoir or Autobiography. What sets the book apart is its method. It stays close to facts and to the exact choice of words, and it does not try to explain its losses away.
This page covers the written memoir only. It is not a film or documentary version, and it is not a guide to mental health care.
What the book records
The memoir is about two deaths and the years that followed. The publisher’s US page gives the core facts, and the Pulitzer Prizes’ 2026 description adds the sequence between them.
| Son | Year of death | Age at death | Position in the family |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent | 2017 | 16 | Older son |
| James | 2024 | 19 | Younger son |
The Pulitzer description places James’s death “a little more than six years” after Vincent’s. The ages and years come from the publisher’s page; the older and younger positions come from the Pulitzer description.
#1 Best Overall
On the publisher’s page, Li gives her own account of the loss in a single sentence: “My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen.” The sentence is plain and chronological, and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.
How the book is written
The Pulitzer Prizes describe the memoir as “a writer’s deeply moving and revelatory account” and as “an austere and defiant memoir of acceptance that focuses on facts, language and the persistence of life.” That is the award’s wording, not Li’s. It still gives three working terms for reading the book.
Facts
The memoir keeps to what happened. The National Book Foundation’s listing quotes one sentence from the book: “Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.” The sentence has short, declarative clauses and no commentary. This is the austerity the Pulitzer description refers to. It is attributed to the book, not to an outside narrator.
Language
Li treats writing as the thing she can offer. In a Guardian interview published on 17 May 2025, she says: “I have given my words, that’s the only thing I can give.” Read alongside the award’s emphasis on language, the statement suggests that the precision of the prose is deliberate and that the book is her chosen form of response.
Rank #3
The persistence of life
The Pulitzer description ends with the phrase “the persistence of life.” The memoir is not only a record of two deaths. It also records the ordinary continuation of a life after them, and the award treats that continuation as one of the book’s subjects, not as a consolation added at the end.
Li’s remarks in the Guardian interview
The Guardian’s 17 May 2025 interview with Li carries the headline “My sadness is not a burden.” The phrase is the headline, not a line the article attributes to her as a full quotation, so it should be read as the interview’s framing. The interview’s direct quotations are the ones given above. In the same interview, Li explains her limits: she says she is not a mental health professional and cannot support strangers in severe distress.
What the memoir does not offer
The book is personal testimony. It is not a clinical account of why suicide happens, not a bereavement manual, and not evidence that one way of grieving applies to everyone. Readers looking for a step-by-step approach to loss, or for professional guidance, will find that the book does not provide it. Li’s own statement about her limits makes the same point.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Editions and availability
Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishes the memoir in print in the United States, and the publisher’s US page, from Macmillan, lists the edition details. Availability varies by country, so check your local bookseller or library for the edition available in your market before ordering.
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If this book raises difficult feelings
Reading about a parent who lost two children to suicide can bring up painful feelings, including thoughts about your own safety. If that happens, you do not have to read on.
Quick Recap
- In the United States, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at any hour.
- Outside the United States, contact your local emergency number or a national crisis line in your country.
- If someone is in immediate danger, call emergency services without delay and stay with them until help arrives.
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