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Hmm… mixed feelings about this one. It was really different from everything I‘ve been reading lately so I‘ll give it that! A woman is in a loveless marriage with a man that has many skeletons in his closet. She‘s unhappy with her job as a piano teacher, wants children but discovers her husband doesn‘t want any, and is stuck living with her mother in law that seems to think very little of her. Also, there are mushrooms that talk to her 😳

Not really sure what to expect from this, but I‘m enjoying it 40 pages in… Seems like it‘s going to be a really quick read.

I was a bit disappointed. I think in part bc of the hyperfocus on becoming a mother as a duty/resp of being a good wife. I get that it's a *thing*, I hear it at home in some fashion myself, but eh. That said, I really did like Song Yan. I liked that she was as a character with nothing who found the courage to hold something in her hands, to take risks, and to not be tied by duty and traditions. Also, I think I missed the pt of the mushrooms 😅😅

"We pour a bit of ourselves into everything we do, every note we play, I thought, and unwittingly, one fragment at a time, we leave ourselves in the past."

"There was something alluring about an aging woman‘s hands, I thought, weary but resilient, weathered by the experiences of her years, by everything she had touched. They were a book without words."

My fourth book for the Asian Readathon. The challenge: read a book featuring an Asian character who is a hot mess, famous, or eccentric. Song Yan gave up her dream of being a concert pianist. She starts receiving mysterious packages of mushrooms every week & cooks them with her mother-in-law. When she receives a letter from the sender summoning her to a strange house, it leads her to a famous pianist who disappeared 10 years ago. #asianreadathon

I‘ve had enough of Bowen… and his mother… and his secret… and mushrooms. I‘m ready for something better for Song.

I liked: the writing, the reclusive / missing pianist, the family drama; I was confused by: the talking mushroom, the ending
In all it felt like a hallucination and sometimes that was a good thing, but I would‘ve liked more clarity at times - especially toward the end

This is a magical story about a pianist, mushrooms, and loss

This was an incredibly strange book. I think I liked it? I really enjoyed the writing style. The story is so bizarre, though, and I‘m left with mostly questions about what happened. A soft pick for me.

So. Many. Questions!

First book of 2023- strange, touching & quite lovely, but also Eh? Following the death of her father-in-law, piano-teacher Song Yan & her husband move to a new flat, with space for her MIL. Then mystery mushroom deliveries start arriving. And Song Yan discovers how little she knows of her husband‘s past

This would be a fab book club discussion - no-one would agree what it‘s actually about!!

Did I mention talking mushrooms?

Starting the year in a weird and wonderful way. It begins with a talking mushroom, so… Plus piano music. What more do you want in a novel?!

#WinterReadathonDailyChallenge As usual it‘s only the first day of the year and there are already so many new titles I‘m looking forward to. No doubt I will keep learning about more and more must reads daily, and between that and reading everyone‘s glowing best of 2022 entries my TBR will explode exponentially. 🤯🙀🙊 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

This brief but strangely powerful novel is one that will linger on long after it ends! Song Yan & her husband move to a larger apartment to accommodate his recently widowed mother moving in with them. The new apartment also features a mysterious weekly delivery of wild mushrooms & odd dreams of a taking mushroom. Mixing magical realism, modern Beijing, a love of piano music & pressures of a relationship, only the abrupt ending disappointed me!

I love An Yu‘s books! This one is just as weird and wonderful as “Braised Pork” - her first novel. Her writing reminds me a bit of Murakami only without all the sexism. It‘s unsettling - like if you take a slice-of-life style novel and add just a pinch of a psychological thriller. So not for everyone maybe, but definitely for me! Lol

Thanks to Netgalley for this e-ARC. This is my first time reading An Yu's novel and I am surprised that it is well written, straightforward, easy to understand and I was able to grasp the story being told. As the story slowly unravels, I begin to understand the complexity and relevance of it, about life in general. I'm sure we may have different opinions upon reading it and interpreting the in-depth meaning of this novel differently.