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"  Yiyun Li is living the American writer&amp;#039;s dream. Born in Beijing in 1972, she came to the United States to study medicine at the University of Iowa. She felt out of touch with her parents and boyfriend (now husband) back home, so she took a writing class. Li was smitten, as were her teachers, and after getting an immunology degree she earned a coveted spot in Iowa&amp;#039;s MFA writing program. Her stories were soon published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review, and her collection of stories about contemporary Chinese life, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2005), was showered with praise and awards.  Now Li has poured her prodigious talent into The Vagrants (Random House), her powerful debut novel about the people in the modest Chinese city of Muddy River in 1979\u2014the year in which, Li tells me on the phone, &amp;quot;China first started to open up to the world.&amp;quot; The story centers on the public execution of a young woman who had served in China&amp;#039;s fanatical Red Guard before renouncing Communism. This horrific event is regarded by the jaded citizenry merely as a break from the daily grind: &amp;quot;Two day-care teachers were hurrying 12 small children to join the parade, their hands holding a rope with its two ends in the teachers&amp;#039; hands.&amp;quot; (At the age of five, Li attended the public execution of a &amp;quot;counterrevolutionary hooligan,&amp;quot; and she tells me she herself stood in that line.) The repercussions of the spectacle are overwhelming for everyone in the novel, including two bereft elderly couples, a conflicted female propagandist, a sleazy braggart, a forsaken young girl, and even a schoolboy and his dog. Familiarity with Chinese history isn&amp;#039;t at all necessary to relate to the grief, pain, confusion, fear, loyalty, suspicion, and love portrayed by the characters in this deeply affecting story. &amp;quot;Every time there is political turmoil, people turn against each other,&amp;quot; Li says. Now a writing professor at University of California at Davis, Li says that when it comes to writing, English is her native tongue, and The Vagrants has a confident, democratic style that gives a distinct voice to every character. &amp;quot;Growing up in China, you learn you can never trust one person&amp;#039;s words,&amp;quot; Li says. &amp;quot;People&amp;#039;s stories don&amp;#039;t always match.&amp;quot; But one thing is clear: Li&amp;#039;s stories matter. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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