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james1star's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book started out well and I was very intrigued to see what followed. The first person POV from children’s piano teacher Song Yan was gripping as she was getting used to living with her mother-in-law in Beijing, trying to talk with her husband about starting a family and recollecting about missed opportunities in her past. And then boxes of Yunnan mushrooms sent from a great ‘missing’ pianist arrive coupled with dreams with a talking ghost mushroom start to complicate things as well as the unraveling of Song Yan’s husband Bowen’s past comes out too. There is more to the plot in some sense but from here on out it does lose its foundations and goes off in a maybe a few too many tangents or at least a ‘no plot all vibes’ notion to an extent. I sometimes like this but it definitely lost me as the book developed around the 40% mark onwards. I still understand what was going on but I didn’t really care so much I’d say and this continued till the end so in many ways I do wish I DNF’d it, the ending also left maybe some lose ends. The writing was alright and maybe if I got on board with the magical realism or abstract elements more I’d have enjoyed it or understood some symbolism possibly too but yh, take it as you will.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicide
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