I don’t have a lot to say other than this book was a huge disappointment.
It was just so so tedious.
A huge flop for me

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This book is so beautifully written with so many quotable passages and clever turns of phrase that I really, really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.
The characters fell flat; the story did not resonate and I found myself just wanting to finish the book. I can't help but feel that the fault lies with me because this book should have everything - historical setting, complex relationships, imperfect characters and I cannot emphasise enough that beautiful writing and nonetheless, it left me cold.

Yiyun Li is a master storyteller. In Must I Go we encounter widowed octogenarian Lilia who reflects on life via her ex lovers diaries and her daughter Lucy who died. Beautiful, slow novel about complexity of human emotions.

I was looking forward to this one after some pals have been saying how good it is. Unfortunately I DNF. Don't get me wrong, the writing is marvellous but just not my cup of tea., not my style. Also, the way is written in a mix with and without quotations makes it so hard to follow up. Thank you for my e-arc.

Yiyun Li’s narrative’s a complex exploration of mortality, memory, and loss through the character of outspoken Lilia Liska. In her eighties, Lilia lives in a California care facility where she’s renowned for her abrasiveness and a reluctance to participate in group activities. Instead, alone in her room, she obsessively revisits a diary by Roland Bouly, an obscure Canadian book dealer who once dreamt of becoming a famous writer. Lilia only met Roland four times but his impact was long-lasting, unknown to him, he fathered her first child Lucy. And it’s Lucy’s early death by suicide that’s somehow set off Lilia’s fixation with Roland’s journal. Roland’s gone now too but that doesn’t stop Lilia from talking to him through her own version of his book, inserting a commentary that swiftly moves her out of the margins and into the centre. This is an ambitious piece that’s invited comparisons with Nabokov’s "Pale Fire," although if there’s a link it seems more trace influence than anything else. I enjoyed Li’s sophisticated use of shifting registers and overlapping voices coming together to form an innovative, unconventional account of a relationship. There were numerous stand-out passages, mostly when Lilia’s speaking, but Roland’s deliberately banal journal entries were less impressive, and I found it increasingly difficult to resist the urge to skim over them. Li’s creation Lilia was often fascinating, self-deluding, opinionated, sometimes savagely witty but the bulk of the novel rested on her shoulders, and I didn’t think she was strong enough to take its weight.

Lilia is in a care home for the elderly, reflecting on her life and in particular with Roland with whom she had an affair.Lilia is strong-willed and independent and looks to correct Roland's memoirs and n particular her role in his life.

The book contains much on Leila's approach to life and her attitude to her expansive family and her fellow residents.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me.Some may be charmed by this story but the pacing is tedious and I found it difficult to engage with any of the central characters. A disappointment.

I'm afraid the book didn't convert well to Kindle, and it's simply not realistic to expect readers to be glued to a computer screen for over 300 pages. That makes it unreadable. I wish publishers (or NetGalley) cared a bit more about their books being readable. This certainly doesn't make me confident that if I buy the ebook they will have formatted it properly.

I desperately wanted to love this one! Conceptually, this was amazing. However, I require a certain writing style in my books that this one just didn't deliver. The prose is beautiful... but that eventually becomes overkill. Every paragraph has some witty metaphor that I can't get my head around, that I have to really think about, which is jarring and takes me out of the story completely. So, while I love the story itself, the writing let it down for me, as did the family tree that I just couldn't wrap my head around!

Yiyun Li's last book 'Where Reasons End' blew me away with its profound exploration of loss and grief. This is equally beautiful in its style, but is a bit of a hard slog. One of those books to read over a long period, rather than devour in one reading.

I am not having much luck with books recently. I have read everything by Yiyun Li and loved pretty much all of her books but sadly this one has been a bit of a disappointment. On the surface, this is my kinda book: older woman reflecting on life (by means of a “lovers” diary), reflections on motherhood and grief, snarky and Lilia hates people... all of this should be my cup of tea but alas: it was soooo tedious. It’s beautiful sentence overkill.

The fierce and crusty Lilia lives in an old folks home, where she scorns almost all of her fellow residents. She occupies her time going over the diaries of her former lover Roland, annotating them with a view to correcting the record for her grand-daughter's sake. In the process, she reveals her life as a free-spirited and independent woman, with little regard for what others thought of her. Her life also included frustration and tragedy, along with considerable difficulty in either establishing loving relationships, or making them last.

This novel is an unblinking portrayal of an unforgettable character, dealing with loss and grief in her own way, while being determined to explain her life choices to those left behind when she eventually passes on.

I did not finish this book as I found the style very unengaging, the tone cold and the characters unpleasant. I got 40% through, and enjoyed some of the aspects of Lilia’s story, but when it became more about Roland’s diaries I just couldn’t bear to continue.

I know there has been a lot of hype about this book and it has received glowing reviews from critics but I just really, really didn't like it.

I'm not going to post a review to just slag it off, it just wasn't for me.

Review not posted anywhere else.

Intimate, kind of epistolary novel. Lilia, 81, finds a little diary from a man she knew and had an affair in her past. She starts to annotate the diary with her perception of events. Secrets, loss, joys and everything in between slowly reveal itself.

Ode to life.

So well written, joy to read!

This sounds a bit like a mash-up of Nabokov's Pale Fire (telling a story through annotating another narrative), Penelope Fitzgerald's Moon Tiger and Atwood's The Blind Assassin (an old woman looking back on a love affair which helped define her life) - but actually I found it almost impossible to get into. Lilia's voice never came through as strongly and clearly as I'd have liked and the flat, monotone left the story feeling detached where I wanted it to be intimate and involving. I'm afraid I just couldn't connect with this story, sorry!

Disclaimer - I received a free digital download of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly I’ll say that I found the book a little difficult to get completely into. It’s a first person narrative of Lilia where she melds the present and the past together in a melancholic story around her daughters suicide written for her granddaughter and great granddaughter. I found the book to have quite a few intellectually stimulating ideas that left an impression on me after finishing.

I thought it quite interesting that we were able to hear the story of two lovers, one through first person narrative and the other through a diary written long before the death of the second. The book rotates around relationships and complacency in those relationships, which I found interesting particularly when discussing that of Lilia’s mother and her relationships with her children.

I thought the manuscript I received could have done with a little bit of tweaking as I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was narrative from Lilia or Roland in quite a few parts and found myself having to shift my perspective paragraphs into a shift in character. But otherwise it was an interesting read and I enjoyed my time inside of Lilia’s head.

Wow! What a clever, engaging and moving read, exploring grief, loss and the relationships between men and women. This is by no means an easy, finish it in one sitting read, but it's definitely worth the time to sit through and savour every page.

Must I Go is a complex and clever novel. The concept is unique: the narrator, Lilia, annotates the diaries of her former lover, and this allows for a really interesting exploration of love, loss and human nature.

Lilia herself is fascinating: acerbic and self-aware, she is a narrator with full confidence in her opinions, even of people she has never met. The memoirs act as a springboard for many reflections into her own family history, and there are times when true emotion bleeds through her wit.

However, I did find that her detached voice (and relationship) with Roland detracted from the memoir itself. I simply didn't care about Roland, Hetty or Sidelle - and while that may have, partly, been the point, it also made the pages drag.

Must I Go is a commitment, a novel that's as cold and wise as its narrator.

“Most Men are undertakers of their women’s dreams.” Full of sharp observations and great writings. Yiyun Li is a great writer, the Lilia passages were fascinating, observations of people, loss and grief and about surviving. I was less drawn to the diary entries written by Roland however, self-obsessed men without a sense of humor can be tedious to read. Still they are necessary to get Lilia’s insight on these passages.