Tag: #Divorce

  • Short Story Review: “Hello, Goodbye” by Yiyun Li

    (The short story “Hello, Goodbye” by Yiyun Li was featured in the November 15th, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.)

    Getting old sucks, but having old friends makes it tolerable. Boom! That sums up “Hello, Goodbye” by Yiyun Li. I am being a little turdy right now in my review, as this is a story, I thought I would like, and I don’t think I like it, but as I’m writing this, I think I do like it. I’m very conflicted, and there is a good chance that was the point.

    Li’s story revolves around two old friends who met at Berkley, and live in Silicon Valley/Bay Area. Nina is married to a pediatric dentist with two tween/teenaged daughters. Nina’s best friend Katie is in the process of divorcing her much older and very rich husband. As this story takes places in the time of Covid, Katie moves in with Nina’s family, and reflections ensue. Mainly, teenagers think they know more than their parents, and the parents reflect on how right and yet wrong that is. Also, how some people live for contentment, while other people live for experience. Contentment might be an emotional plateau of stability; experience brings the excitement of the highs and the depression of the lows with everything else being forgotten.

    See! I should like this. It is totally up my alley as these are the conversations, I am having with my friends of twenty plus years.

    But something stuck in my craw with this story. (It could be that the title of this story is the same as a very famous Beatles song.) And I think it might come down to sticking the landing of the piece. The story did have a tinge of melancholy of the past without dipping into misplaced reverent nostalgia. Li created ideas and images that I identified with, and enjoyed. SO, I think my unease is purely academic. I can’t identify the climax, and the resolution feels too easy.

    It’s too bad, as I would like to see what Nina and Katie do next in their friendship and their lives.

  • Research and Sticking to Reality

    There was a silly question which I posed to my wife yesterday in regard to the novel. She had walked in the door from walking the dog, and I said to her, “So don’t read into this, but what do you know about getting a divorce in New York?”

    I am lucky to have my wife, who has fielded strange questions from me for years, so she didn’t even bat an eye at this one. “Not a whole lot,” she said, “but I know they suck.”

    And with that, I am forced to do research.

    As we are all stuck at home, I have started reading on the internet, and going to legal sites to discover the ins and outs of DIY divorces, and lawyers, and the fact that no one is happy about getting divorced.

    The worst part is that by starting to do the most basic of research, I have already discovered some statements that I had the protagonist make about the divorce process, are factually wrong, and not how it works in New York. I made the note, and when I start rewriting, I will incorporate this information in. Though, working this information in will affect a small subplot in the novel, which will force me to figure out how to adjust the subplot, or just cut it.

    And then I had a thought; if I am writing fiction, then I can just make up whatever I want. Who says that I have to follow how the real-world works? This isn’t a documentary, but when I write, I have this compulsion that I have to stick everything into reality. If New York State has a 60-day waiting period before a divorce is finalized, then I can’t write about a situation where that doesn’t exist.

    Right?

    I have also heard it said by a writer friend that you should only do research after you complete the first draft. “Don’t let facts get in your way from telling a good story.”