Sunbirth is An Yu’s upcoming novel, set to be published in August. Known for Braised Pork and Ghost Music, An Yu returns with a quiet but powerful story of two sisters living in a village where the sun is slowly disappearing from the sky. ☀️

I spotted this book on Bookstagram just once or twice and didn’t know much about the author or the plot—but the stunning cover immediately pulled me in. I knew I had to check it out, so I requested an advanced copy from @groveatlantic via @netgalley 🥰

The story takes place in Five Poems Lake, a small and isolated village that feels like a prison to some—but not to our protagonist, who’s content with her place in the world. Her only concern is the sun. She keeps watching the sky, quietly dreading its absence. While the looming mystery of the vanishing sun keeps you hooked, the novel’s heart lies in the bond between the sisters and the quiet strength of family. 👭🏻

There’s another mystery, too—one rooted in the past. The sisters try to uncover the truth behind their father's death, raising the question: are some secrets better left buried? 🧐

All in all, this was a mesmerising read. I kept turning the pages, eager to discover what would unfold. I’ve now added An Yu’s earlier books to my TBR and can’t wait to read them. If you're looking for a novel you won't be able to put down—quietly suspenseful, beautifully written—I highly recommend Sunbirth. 🥰

EArc provided courtesy of NetGalley, spoilers ahead.

This book had a wonderful dreamlike quality to it. I did love it but have so many questions nagging at me still due to the open ending which I love in a slightly masochistic way. I don't really have many criticisms or thoughts relating to this as I felt like I was Dong Ji's sister while I was reading, despite not even being a woman, which is a real testament to the quality of An Yu's writing. The use of the sun as a metaphor for grief just perfect, at least that's my interpretation of the sun's disappearance at Ba's death and return only when the sisters begin to truly heal from his death and their relationship with Dong Ji taking less of the familial burdens, allowing her sister to come into her own and to take some of the burden with her.

4 Stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this advanced reading copy.

Sunbirth is an interesting novel. It was easily readable in an afternoon and extremely compulsive throughout. It's power as a novel comes from the complex questions it poses - and I have found myself thinking of it regularly over the days since I have read it. I would highly recommend for fans of Sayaka Murata,

In a town called Five Poems Lake, two sisters grapple with the disappearance of their father from over a decade ago amid a turbulent time - each day significant slivers of the sun seem to be disappearing. Days get colder, and people fear what this will mean for survival without sunlight if the sun continues to disappear into nothing. Further, there's also a strange phenomenon where people's heads spontaneously burst into bright balls of light.

There's a scarcity to the writing. The development of the story is slow and moves back and forward in time. It also follows multiple people throughout the town which is a little discordant at times.

It had a zombie apocalypse feeling to it despite the complete lack of zombies. The descriptions of the dynamic explored between the two sisters is what kept me so invested in what happens to them. They both had their childhood stolen from them too early but they are also both alternate mothers to each other.

The book explored finding purpose in life, hope in one's family and footing in where you've settled. Is home where the family is even if you cease to exist? After we all die, if we are no longer remembered, do we cease to exist? Can we be rebirthed?

The buildup of the story felt intriguing in the beginning, but petered out in the middle for me and by the end felt a a little anticlimactic. I wish it had more exploration of the magical element to it.

The sun is slowly disappearing and in a small village in Five Poems Lake, people are slowly turning into Beacons—humans with a tiny sun as their heads. ☀️ It’s a dawn of a new kind of apocalypse. Two sisters try to figure out what is going on and how their late father might hold some secret to make sense of their reality.

This was a very strange read but for some reason, I could not stop reading it. As the characters try to uncover the truth, we’re left with more questions than answers. And maybe that’s the point, for how much can you truly know about the mysteries of the universe? 💭

The book just seems to go on with conversations that feels so normal and doesn’t add much to the plot and somehow I just went along with it?? I don’t fully get it, but I don’t think I will forget it either.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the review copy!

An interesting, and at times surreal novel about one town’s slow apocalypse. The sun has been shrinking slowly over a long period of time, but has started rapidly increasing its disappearance. This coincides with sightings of people emitting an impossibly bright light from their head. The story follows a woman as she grapples with this new reality and her relationships with those around her, namely her sister. I found that their relationship was the most interesting in the novel, both have opposing views regarding most conflicts in the book. The beginning started a little slow, but about 15% in I was completely hooked. I really enjoyed the imagery, but I wouldn’t recommend to anyone looking for a more concrete read. It does feel more grounded than other more surreal stories, closer to a show like The Leftovers. Really great read!

Sunbirth is the story of the death of the sun and the rebirth of a new light.

In a world where the sun is slowly disappearing, our main character is living in a constant cold environment, trying to navigate life while also navigating this wild situation. Then, she encounters a Beacon, or a person who has become an almost mini-sun, and is terrified to learn that her late father may have known something about these people. It's a story of the end of the world, and also of how our main character navigates her relationships with her friends and family.

Overall a very interesting premise, and very satisfyingly executed. An Yu manages to put a lot of different themes into a very complicated setting, making it seem very realistic (and honestly a little scary).

Thank you to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic/Grove Press, and An Yu for an ARC copy of this book.

What a strange novel. Did I get a story of environmental collapse? Nope, but at one point, with all the disappearing sun and decay of the built environment, I thought I did. Did I get a story about a family and grief? Nope. But at one point, it certainly seemed like it was. Did I get a whodunnit? No, but there's a narrative thread dedicated to discovering the cause of death of one character. Did I get a bizarre, magical realist set-up? I did, but what it actually meant and what was its function in the novel remains a mystery to me. I'm very curious about other An Yu's novels now.

3.5/5 stars.
This book is pretty character driven, so if you're expecting a lot of action, maybe go elsewhere. The main thing that kept me from rating this book 4 stars are the plot holes and unanswered questions. I love ambiguous endings and questions in some books, but not when it's the important plot points that are not being addressed or explained. Rather than being left open to interpretation or things that can't be explained, these just felt like abandoned plot lines. The concept itself was pretty interesting though, and it kept my interest for the most part.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-ARC. *5 STARS*

Let's get this out of the way: I adored this book so consider this review biased.

In SUNBIRTH, the residents of Five Poems Lake are really just trying to get by. Only, the Sun seemingly disappears overhead, and the already-inhospitable desert that isolates the village becomes a snowy wasteland. Residents grapple with realities like crop failure and plummeting temperatures with no choice but to continue on; work their jobs, go home. At the same time, our protagonist and her sister, Dong Ji, become entangled in the mystery that has unfolded in parallel (or contrast) to the disappearing sun: the emergence of "Beacons," people whose heads are overtaken by small, roaring blazes.

What unfolds is a multi-POV account that weaves past and present beautifully. The dynamic between sisters is convincing, and the love between them is so complicated, at times messy. The protagonist is almost painfully self-aware, and has the ability to see intense things with a great distance while experiencing them. This, in contrast to her strong-headed sister, creates a dynamic main cast full of small idiosyncrasies that feel like their own. Set against the backdrop of magical realism imagining of an apocalypse scenario, it is all very hypnotic.

The writing is just so great. Just really pared down and intentional use of language. The descriptions of light were just so luscious. I scribbled down so many quotes and took so many pictures of passages. Once the book is published, I will come back and share some favorites. Anyway, I am a huge fan of An Yu now, which gives me a couple more books to read!

Sunbirth – An Yu
A haunting and poetic novel that explores themes of rebirth, longing, and the search for meaning. An Yu’s lyrical prose paints a dreamlike world that feels both intimate and vast, making Sunbirth a story that lingers in the mind like a half-remembered dream. Fans of literary fiction with a touch of magical realism will find this book mesmerizing.

Eerie novella that I could absolutely see being adapted into a film down the line. This is the story of two sisters trying to live their lives as the darkness that hangs over their town starts to increase, and people seem to transform into bodies with beacons of light attached to them, and as they try to keep their family together as people randomly ascend. Gorgeous and eerie as hell.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I have read An Yu’s two other novels (Braised Pork and Ghost Music) and I feel like with each book she’s getting better. Sunbirth blew me away. It is the right mix of atmospheric, surreal and fast-paced.

*

The sun is disappearing. Days are getting darker and colder, but nobody knows why the sun shrinks. There won’t be coming any help either. Beyond the city limits of Five Poems Lake is nothing but a vast, unforgiving desert. The few who dared to venture into it are never to be seen again.

The protagonist, a young pharmacist, tries to live her life under the disappearing sun as well as she manages to. One night, she gets attacked by one of her delivery drivers. Before the attack gets physical, the driver’s head turns into a miniature sun: a beacon. Scared and bewildered, the protagonist confides to her sister and a family friend, a young police officer who worked with her deceased father, who was also a police officer. As strange things keep on happening, she tries to find out the truth about her father’s death many years ago and how it might be connected to the beacons.

*

In her third novel, An Yu manages again to suck me into one of her strange worlds. The story heavily relies on the three dimensional characters and their relationships to each other, but is plot-driven at the same time, which is not an easy feat. The descent into surrealism is slow at first, but then accelerates. While sometimes surrealism seems to be a tool to appear “artistic”, this is not the case here. As proven with this and her two other novels, An Yu is a master of the surreal. It is playful at times, atmospheric at others, but always effortless. Yes, not everything is happening logically, but it moves with the narrative so fluidly that it becomes addictive.

*

Overall, I loved this book. Go read it!

This book had such an interesting and unique concept that I couldn't not read it and luckily it was an interesting and unique read! I was completely gripped by the mystery and the anxiety over the characters future and even though the story felt that it went by quite quickly it did feel very complete. Having said that I'd have liked for it to be a big longer and a bit more dragged out. I was left with so many unanswered questions but not really in an annoying way - it makes sense with this book for there to be so much left unknown.
Review on goodreads and storygraph

Incredible. A truly trippy and personal tale that edges between a personal drama, sci fi and thriller. The relationships between the characters are well thought out and the dialogue feels so natural that it could be anyone and their sibling or friend or dad just transcribed down. The language is easy to understand but still extremely descriptive and through very few added words sets whatever tone is wished for that scene by the author. The plot is really creative and interesting, I have to say I was very intrigued at the start of the book in the more sci fi aspects and that was my primary focus for reading more, but I began to accept it as the reality of this world and focussed more on the human aspect of the story, just like the characters of this world (which is just incredible writing). The ending feels justified and hopeful, even with how vague it is. I am about as blind to themes and metaphors as anyone can be, but I felt this book is especially strong in this manner. People much smarter than me will be able to dissect exactly what's going on here, but I felt the concept of change and rebirth and how to deal with it was really done in depth and well. You can say this book is about anything you really want to because it touches on so many topics and i think really is able to sum up human experience in all the complexities we exist with, for me, it was about mental health (just people and how they think in general), climate change and family. Probably because those are topics I'm focussed on at the moment. THAT;S how good this book is. Will not be surprised when it reaches a bestseller list.
Fantastic. wow wow wow.

Sunbirth
by An Yu
Genre: Literary, Surrealism, Magical Realism
Pages: 256
Rating: 4.5/5 (rounded to 5)

With its unfamiliar premise of the sun disappearing a fraction at a time, juxtaposed against the universal themes of sisterhood and family bonds, this sparse novel of 256 pages delivers a strange combination of a very powerful yet gentle reading.

Since An Yu's first novel (this is her third), I have been a fan. In my opinion, this is her best work till date, though I have immensely enjoyed her Braised Pork and Ghost Music as well.

All her works till now have been strongly rooted in surrealism and magical realism. This infuses an uncertainty or uniqueness in the plot as well as in the life of the protagonists, in An Yu's novels, which provides the impetus to the protagonist to steer through their existential crisis.

In Sunbirth, we meet two sisters—one runs a family apothecary and the other works at a massage centre. They live in a village called Five Poems Lake (what a beautiful name, right? There is a backstory for this nomenclature). It's not easy to leave this village. The sun is disappearing from their sky, one sliver at a time, at an uncertain speed and with it is receding the sustainability of life under this sky. This leads the novel towards traces of a dystopia as well, but only mildly so.

The author has more in store for her readers; the uncertainty in the lives of the sisters multiply as they tumble upon facts that hint at their father's involvement in the bizzare happenings of the town—which the readers will discover by and by.

What do we hold on to at the time of uncertainty? Hope for the future? Love? Family?

How is a family born?

Sunbirth will make a reader dwell on these questions.

For some readers, the ending may leave a bit wanting if their focus is more on the setting of the novel instead of on its emotional landscape. My take is that the speculative setting of this novel is not an end in itself but a means to navigate the emotional landscape of its characters and in that, the ending is perfect.

I am a huge fan of Haruki Murakami's works, and in An Yu's earlier works, I could see a lot of Murakami-esque elements; comparison with Murakami is almost inevitable when a novel embraces surrealism and/or magical realism. Of course, this didn't not take away anything from the richness or the originality of her books or talent, but I have always hoped that An Yu would ultimately create a niche unique to herself—because a very few can have such command on genres like surrealism and magical realism, and she's one of those few. Sunbirth seems like a firm step towards An Yu's own niche of literature.

With the end of Sunbirth, now I await her next novel.

Let me end this review with gratitude to publisher Grove Press and Net Galley for the happiness that came my way in the shape of the early and free copy of Sunbirth they made available in lieu of a honest review.

Q: Do I recommend Sunbirth to my fellow readers?
A: Yes! ❤️

thank you netgalley for the arc!

this book popped up in my reccomendations and the synopsis hooked me. i love books about family, especially sisters. i thought i had not heard of this author before but i looked up her other works and recognize the cover of ghost music.

sunbirth is such a gem to me, it ticked all my boxes. the writing strikes the perfect balance between precise and poetic. the characters are real, the dialogue is natural. and while the story is also deeply rooted in the real world, the unexplainable slowly starts to creep in. it's all so well set up by the author.

to me this is a horror book, the uncanny kind. it's the type of unsettling that makes you rethink your whole life.

the story starts with two sisters, they live in a small town called five poems lake. this town is surrounded by desert and isolated from the rest of the world. no one has ever heard back from those who have tried to leave.

life is harsh in five poems lake, since there's barely any sun. no one knows why but every year, the sun is slowly vanishing. it's constantly dark and bone-deep cold. the people who still live there are preparing for the day when the sun will no longer rise. it's been over a decade in the making.

just when this day seems to approach rapidly, people start witnessing a strange phenomenon. they call them beacons. a warm light first starts to shoot out of a person's mouth, and quickly engulfs the victim's entire head...

themes : climate change, family dynamics, existentialism (from sooooo many angles like what is love? is it dying for someone or living for someone? is home a place or is it a person? should we even look for meaning in life? what is the point of anything if we have no control over our lives? why keep going if the sun is going to die soon anyway?)

will be buying if/when it comes out as paperback

Sunbirth is an intense, complex and brilliant novel. The plot immediately draws you in, creating a setting that is both familiar yet strange - unheimlich - and infuses the fiction with a unique feeling of unease. The themes that permeate the narrative are poignant and important. The current climate crisis is mirrored in the novel, where ours is a world that is getting continuously hotter, theirs is a world that is getting colder, but the threat to our daily life that this envisions is all too realistic. The theme of sisterhood, family and death all intertwined, also makes for an interesting read and the An Yu’s musings on what happens after death and how we memorialised the dead are written with striking beauty. I would have like for Yu to have leant in to the idea of religious radicalism that is touched on throughout the novel, as an additional plot point. However, the plot still flows swiftly and ends with an uplifting feeling of hope and light, unveiling the darkness that is throughout the novel.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

I have been a huge fan of An Yu since I read Ghost Music, and I enjoyed Braised Pork as well. I was really excited to see she had a new book coming out.

I think the writing style of Sunbirth is exactly what I expected from An Yu, it has a good flow without being overly flowery. I found it very enjoyable to read.

In terms of plot, Sunbirth is very weird, and though it was fun, I honestly don't think I understand what it all meant yet. The first section is very slow paced, but I think it really picked up right before the first flashback to the dad's time.

Overall I was not disappointed!

I enjoyed this. The dry, sparing prose built a choking atmosphere and it's not for everyone but it is for me. I also might be the only one who enjoyed the first half more, since I found the second's pacing the tiniest bit off. All in all I can't believe I haven't read from this author before and I look forward to doing so.
Thank you to Grove and NetGalley for this ARC.