The New Yorker: "The Science of Flight" by Yiyun Li

In the Q&A with Yiyun Li she mentions she's working on a novel about leave-taking. While she doesn't say that this story is an excerpt from that novel, it certainly feels like an excerpt to me. As much as I find the character of Zichen interesting and sympathetic, not much happens here. One could argue that there is conflict, as Zichen struggles to withhold the truth from her colleagues and maintain the fictions that she's created for herself, and it even provides some decent tension—will...