New Yorker short story: Calm Sea and Hard Faring by Yiyun Li (3/9/26 issue)

[Anonymous]

This story had quite a bit of an impact on me since I'm familiar with the author's experience in real life. Would anyone like to discuss this story? I'm looking for insights as to what happened with Hazel at the end. I have thoughts but I'm not sure. I found the last line of the story quite devastating. Spoiler alerts should likely follow. I'd be happy to hear what you all might think.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read her work because I just don't think I could take it. I hear she's an incredible writer though. I suppose the New Yorker doesn't print stories from mid ones though, lol. But I haven't read it in years; I subscribed just for the short stories and then never got to them and the issues piled up on my coffee table making me feel guilty for not reading them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read her work because I just don't think I could take it. I hear she's an incredible writer though. I suppose the New Yorker doesn't print stories from mid ones though, lol. But I haven't read it in years; I subscribed just for the short stories and then never got to them and the issues piled up on my coffee table making me feel guilty for not reading them.

Her earlier stories and novels are incredible. I mean, the more recent work is also amazing, but I understand not being able to deal with the content.

OP—I’ll come back after I’ve read it. Thanks for starting this thread!

[Anonymous]

I am also curious about this!! Was Hazel just overwhelmed? The reaction of the parents sort of threw me.

[Anonymous]

I read the story so I could contribute to the discussion.

I also previously watched the author's video interview with Anderson Cooper. She's very eloquent but I have trouble relating to her world view. Indeed, her children were emotionally atypical and I think she shares some of that atypicality.

I actually lived in Northern California as a child and went to camp in a forest where we did have a barn dance and a trip to see the elephant seals. That was my 6th grade public school's capstone event. So the setting is familiar to me from actual experience.

Oversimplifying radically, the plot is this: "It's hard to be the weird kid".

Hazel is experimenting with running away, doing something dangerous, contemplating what it would be like to go missing or dead. Her character is believable enough. I do not find the adults believable. But perhaps that's because my public school was not fancy enough. Our school had teacher chaperones at our camp. Instead of parents who would pander to children's existential angst.

Let me now digress to tell a real story of the weird kid from my public Northern California elementary school. He was intelligent, but felt too deeply, and was prone to raging and crying in early elementary school. One time he was yelling and crying so much (but remained seated) that the teacher picked him up in his chair and put him outside the classroom door and shut the door. This was a half-glass door to our outside courtyard. I still remember his angry crying face looking in at us while the teacher continued to teach. It was a strange episode in my elementary education. A year or two later, while on a field trip, he ran down a hillside and smack into a 3 foot wide tree head on. I saw it happen from far away. He fell down injured and had to be taken to the hospital. It didn't seem purely accidental.

I moved away from this town after 6th grade so lost track of what happened to the weird kid. When I was in my 40s, I looked up his name on the web and discovered what had happened to him:

1) He had gotten popular later in school (the eccentric on the Homecoming Court wearing a garish smoking jacket).

2) His wedding announcement was in the New York Times (not typical for people of my age and acquaintance).

3) He became an English professor. Students evaluated him as an interesting professor but very ADHD in style.

4) He died in his 30s of a brain tumor/tumors.

So...in the end...I was glad to learn that he had transcended being the weird kid and had found peer acceptance. But I had to wonder...was there always something very wrong with his brain?

Average/conventional/normal people definitely pick up on signals from "different" kids. This story just illustrates that well-known phenomenon. But maybe also "It Takes One to Know One" on the part of self-insert Lilian.

I've read a lot of New Yorker short fiction. I can say that the author's interview with Anderson Cooper was more eerie and challenging.

Happy to discuss my POV further. I hope this doesn't come off wrong. I read the story out of curiosity based in the DCUM post without recognizing the author's name.

I used to have a New Yorker subscription but it started to pile up. Then it piled up for years. When throwing it out I realized why. So much Trump content after 2016! It was triggering. I always read it cover to cover and the covers are frequently political as well as the first few pages. I just can't deal with more Trump content. I'm looking forward to resubscribing someday.

[Anonymous]

I just finished thi story— had to rush through to avoid the paywall.

I agree with your thoughts about Hazel. However, im not sure I understood what was happening with Jude and Oscar. Will try to look for that interview

[Anonymous]

PP. Here is the interview I mentioned. I watched all of it which is rare for me. I dislike how videos hold your time hostage compared to text.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. Here is the interview I mentioned. I watched all of it which is rare for me. I dislike how videos hold your time hostage compared to text.

Thank you for sharing this. I watched and was very moved. “There is no endpoint to grief”

[Anonymous]

^^ I agree with your statement “eerie and challenging”

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP and so thankful I started this thread and got such interesting, smart responses (so far, keep them coming, I'm not trying to end the discussion!). I didn't want to say too much at the beginning about Hazel because I wanted to give everyone time but I thought she was a precocious kid who was misunderstood by her peers and not thoroughly liked by the narrator initially but they did have an interesting conversation together where perhaps Hazel was better "seen" and understood by the narrator. The end where she didn't want to rejoin the group I think I also understood, but I thought the adults' reactions and the way the author wrote about how the adults handled it was a little over the top. So I wanted to check with you all to see if I was missing something.

The author's idea of having a kid who is an "outlier" resonated with me and kind of made me think of the nonfiction book Far From the Tree which really meant a lot to me as a parent.