* A New York Times Editors' Choice
* One of Bookforum's Best Book of the Year, chosen by Colm Tóibín

"Yan Lianke creates imaginary wounds in real blood . . . His books read like the brutal folklore history couldn't bear to remember." -New York Times Book Review

"Filled with a deep melancholy mixed with a ghostly comedy and a rare sort of narrative energy. Utterly unpredictable and brilliantly weird." -Colm Tóibín, Bookforum

"[Yan's] characters inhabit a bleak, harsh world. In bitterly hard circumstances, they show courage and ingenuity, defiance and grace. His renderings of real-world desolations are imaginative and wondrous; these austere fables are minimal, but beautifully composed." -Shelf Awareness

"The Years, Months, Days finds the Chinese master at the top of his game . . . His satirical eye and generous heart are finely rendered." -Toronto Star

"[Yan's novellas] showcase his hallucinatory imagination and satiric wit." -BBC

"Lianke paints vivid scenes of desolate circumstances with an incredible mastery of words and control of his imagery. His masterpieces are sure to engage readers." -Booklist (starred review)

"These two compelling novellas both exalt emotional bonds and warn against their fatal consequences . . . this work again directs the author's unflinching gaze on life's impossible absurdities, exposing a surreal mixture of brutality, openness, even sly humor." -Library Journal (starred review)

"Lianke's talent for the fantastical shines in this collection of two novellas . . . Though they contain dark subject matter, Lianke's fables of personal sacrifice are also sharply observed and funny. Lianke's narratives feel much larger than their page count suggest, almost epic." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Apocalyptic, eerie visions in two novellas by much-honored Chinese writer Yan . . . Inspired, one imagines, by the terrible headlines of famine, climate change, and simple uncertainty; Yan draws on the conventions of folklore and science fiction alike to produce memorable literature." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)