Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Ghost Music
Ghost Music | An Yu
18 posts | 15 read | 18 to read
From the author of the "original and electric" Braised Pork (Time), An Yu's enchanting and contemplative novel of music and mushrooms follows a former concert pianist searching for the truth about a vanished musicianFor three years, Song Yan has filled the emptiness of her Beijing apartment with the tentative notes of her young piano students. She gave up on her own career as a concert pianist many years ago, but her husband Bowen, an executive at a car company, has long rebuffed her pleas to have a child. He resists even when his mother arrives from the southwestern Chinese region of Yunnan and begins her own campaign for a grandchild. As tension in the household rises, it becomes harder for Song Yan to keep her usual placid demeanor, especially since she is troubled by dreams of a doorless room she can't escape, populated only by a strange orange mushroom.When a parcel of mushrooms native to her mother-in-law's province is delivered seemingly by mistake, Song Yan sees an opportunity to bond with her, and as the packages continue to arrive every week, the women stir-fry and grill the mushrooms, adding them to soups and noodles. When a letter arrives in the mail from the sender of the mushrooms, Song Yan's world begins to tilt further into the surreal. Summoned to an uncanny, seemingly ageless house hidden in a hutong that sits in the middle of the congested city, she finds Bai Yu, a once world-famous pianist who disappeared ten years ago.A gorgeous and atmospheric novel of art and expression, grief and survival, memory and self-discovery, Ghost Music animates contemporary Beijing through the eyes of a lonely yet hopeful young woman and gives vivid color and texture to the promise of new beginnings.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
JenniferEgnor
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

This was a really strange book. When there are mushrooms involved, I‘m always interested. The main character is a pianist stuck in a loveless marriage, when ghosts of the past suddenly come calling. The lines of reality, dream, and hallucination blur. This is a novel about grief, and the journeys we take to the path of self-realization. I couldn‘t help but think of themes of China‘s ‘left over women‘ in this novel. More on that here:⬇️

17 likes2 comments
review
AbstractMonica
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Mehso-so

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 😳

blurb
AbstractMonica
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

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.

review
coffees
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Panpan

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 😅😅

1 like1 comment
quote
booksandsympathy
Ghost Music | An Yu

"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."

quote
booksandsympathy
Ghost Music | An Yu

"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."

blurb
booksandsympathy
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

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

blurb
RebL
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

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

11 likes1 stack add
review
BookishTrish
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Mehso-so

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

blurb
KathleenM
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

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

3 likes1 stack add
review
sarahbarnes
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

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.

Megabooks I‘m very curious about this one! 2y
35 likes2 stack adds1 comment
review
rockpools
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

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?

Reggie Sounds fantastic! 2y
rockpools @Reggie I‘d love your thoughts on this if you ever read it. Happy New Year, Reggie! 2y
rockpools I‘m doing minimal challenges this year, but I‘m going to attempt to keep up with those I‘m doing (although I‘m a random order as always) so #nobuy2023 @PuddleJumper (this was the most recent book given to me) and #booked2023 #weirderthanexpected. @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen Start the year as I mean to go on with this one! 2y
See All 10 Comments
Reggie Happy New Year, Rachel! And good luck on all your challenges. 2y
Cinfhen How are you feeling???? Definitely sounds WEIRD and a little wonderful 2y
rockpools @Cinfhen Knackered and far too much coughing, but otherwise not too bad. Planning on starting new year properly next week, when I‘m functioning more fully! And I love that #CelebrateWeirdosDay is a thing, even if we‘re months away from it 🤣🤣 2y
rockpools @Reggie Cheers Reggie, and happy reading! Can‘t wait to see what bizarre horror titles you‘ll tempt me to pick up this year (even though I never DO get through them 🤷🏻‍♀️) 2y
Cinfhen Hahaha 🤣 glad you‘re on the mend ❤️‍🩹 xx 2y
Knitmaths #CelebrateWeirdosDay I finally feel accepted! Can we celebrate this at the library?!!!!!! 2y
rockpools @Knitmaths Ha! I think we should go all out on this one! 😁 2y
61 likes3 stack adds10 comments
blurb
rockpools
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

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?!

sarahbarnes I just checked this out from the library! 2y
rockpools @sarahbarnes I hope you like it! It‘s seriously weird. 🍄 2y
57 likes3 stack adds2 comments
blurb
IndoorDame
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image

#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

Andrew65 Some good looking books here! All our TBRs are about to build to new 2023 peaks! 😬🙀😂 2y
DieAReader 🤣♥️📚🤓🥂 2y
55 likes2 comments
review
TorieStorieS
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

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!

45 likes2 stack adds
review
PNWBookseller85
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

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

TheEllieMo I loved Braised Pork! Definitely adding this to the TBR pile😊 2y
66 likes4 stack adds1 comment
review
SusanLee
Ghost Music | An Yu
post image
Pickpick

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.

8 likes1 stack add