The narrator of this audiobook must be congratulated for reading with such clarity and dexterity, which made the book very easy to listen to, though not easy to understand as it contains magical elements. These magical themes appear in a young wife's life to either make her life more interesting or to lead it forward.

The appearance of magical mushrooms that communicate with the wife, Song Yan, are a break from her grieving over her husband's reluctance to have a child, and her finding out about his hidden past. Edible mushrooms also suddenly appear regularly on her doorsteps, sent by Bai Yu, a once famous pianist who hasn't been heard of the past ten years. These mushrooms bring Song Yan closer to her mother-in-law, as they cook and enjoy these mushroom dishes together.

Song Yan's life goes on apart from her busy husband's, but the fact that she sacrificed a career as a pianist for marriage, looms heavily over her.

I'm not sure about the significance or symbolism of the mushrooms, but they play a part in filling Song Yan's life with more than the ordinary regrets she has every day.
I enjoyed the characters and how their personalities were presented. I also got a glimpse into the life of this Beijing wife who lives a life of regret and tradition that the did not readily choose.

Ghost Music is a dreamlike, strange story that I enjoyed immensely. Although I felt tat times like things were going over my head, the writing was so wonderful that it didn't really bother me.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. While the story itself is beautifully written, I personally just had a difficult time connecting to it.

The story is about a woman in Beijing who gives up her career as a pianist to start a family with her husband, her husband's mother moves in, and one day a random box of mushrooms arrive at her home. In an attempt to bond with her mother in law they start cooking these mushrooms, which start arriving weekly, together. Until one day she receives a letter from the sender of the mushrooms and is called to a mansion in the middle of town and she comes face to face with Bai Yu, a famous pianist who went missing 10 years ago.

Like I said, the story itself is really beautifully written, but I just had a hard time connecting. BUT, I can easily see how others love this one. The characters are quirky, and the underlying values are worthy. I think someone who is more in tune with music/piano would enjoy this. I'm sad this wasn't for me, but I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it! Though, I would definitely recommend the physical copy over the audio (I did the audio), I think that may have been one of the reasons I struggled with it. Thank you NetGalley for the audio copy of this book!

This was weird, atmospheric, enveloping, and really just beautiful. I enjoyed the writing and story a lot more than I thought I would.

I didn’t particularly like this book. There were times when the story gripped me, but mostly it fell a bit flat. I struggled to keep track of the characters, and the story seemed to just go on, with no real purpose. It was quite slow and difficult to get into in the beginning, however, it did get a little better towards the end.

I really liked the prose. But I listened to the audiobook and I don’t think the narrator was a good choice for this kind of prose. I think the narrator was a part of why I didn’t enjoy this book.

I give it 2.75 stars rounded up to 3

Magical realism always seem to be a hit or miss for me, not often something in between.
Unfortunately this one was a miss for me.
I didn´t connect with any of the characters and the story just wasn´t for me.
Don´t really understand the choices that where made and what was actually happening.

It would be really great if we could be done with the semi-supernatural fungus trend in fiction. It was bad enough that mushrooms invaded Horror so pervasively, and now they’re invading Literary Fiction. Sigh.

The above is particularly a shame with regard to this book, because Yu writes so gorgeously and this book had a lot going for it plot-wise aside from the “ghost mushrooms.” Which fortunately makes it a worthy if flawed read.

I’m not big on the reckoning with one’s shitty husband theme in novels either, but I loved the protagonist and the lovely piano-related components of the story.

If you like audiobooks, this is a good pick for the format. It moves well, sounds beautiful, and has a lovely narrator.

This is a short book, which felt appropriate to the content, and the plot and character development was quite good given the short length. I would love to see more from Yu that moves away from Magical Realism, or at the very least, away from the tired and inexplicable trend of anthropomorphized fungi.

So anyone who knows me, how much I love mushrooms and if I'm being completely honest the mushrooms introduced in the synopsis made me interested in the book. I was initially super intrigued by the premise and while I loved the beautiful writing, I found the main character Song Yan pretty passive and the book just kind of ended ? Not that it was bad, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and RB Media for my copy of Ghost Music by An Yu Narrated by Vera Chok in exchange for an honest review. It published January 10, 2023.
First off, the narration by Very Chok was very well-done, and I would listen to anything Chok would narrate!
This book started off so interesting to me, dreaming about telepathic mushrooms! What a unique idea! Also, I found the living situation to be interesting between the main character, her husband, and her mother-in-law. I loved the setting.
However, if you struggle to follow fantasy on audiobook, you may want to read the physical version along with the audiobook.

Ghost Music by An Yu is an atmospheric novel trying to live a life that she’s not really happy in, trying to fit in. I felt a certain kinship with her soul. I don’t know this feeling of being stuck somewhere you are not meant to. It was heavy but also light. It felt like a discovery of freedom and that’s that best thing I loved about it. I won’t talk about the plot because you can check out the blurb but I would say I liked listening to it.
I also like the narration by Vera Chok.
I would definitely like to listen to more books by the author.
I would definitely recommend it.
Thank You Net Galley for approving this book for me to listen to.

I loved this weird little book though I'll be honest -- it left me a little dazed and confused. I was never sure what was real and was imaginary; what was grief and what was a dream...I loved this feeling of floating unmoored throughout, but it also was kind of unsettling. This was super lovely, fascinating writing, and I found myself charmed, albeit very confused.

Thanks to Recorded Books and Netgalley for an advanced audio copy of this book.

I really enjoyed Ghost Music, and read along as I listened to the audiobook. This book is what I call "delightfully weird." I liked the main character's exploration of her role in her marriage, who is she as an artist and as a person in general, and the dissociative episodes where she is surrounded by mushrooms. I liked the storyline of the mysterious Bai Yu, and I don't know if I totally "got it," but it gave me pause over what was real and what was in the main character's head. There were overarching themes of grief, keeping secrets, and motherhood. It was a very enjoyable read, I would read this author again.

Lyrical, haunting, and beautiful, at no point did I understand this story, but I enjoyed being taken on the journey. An Yu's prose is simply poetic, and it was so wonderfully enhanced by Vera Chok! Despite thinking about it overnight, I am still not sure what the meaning of the plotline was, but I am already so excited to delve back in to try and tease out any meanings.

**Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Press for allowing me to read this book. All thoughts are my honest opinions.**

a very atmospheric novel that was puzzling but also quite magical to read/ listen to. if you like books that give you clear resolutions and closure, you’re not gonna enjoy this. the ending left me with a lot of questions and feeling quite perplexed, but this felt very intentional and added to the strange charm of the book!

First completed book of the year and it’s a 5-star read for me! 🎉
This book felt like a wonderful piece of poetry (or music), leaving me with some very clear and powerful impressions or “refrains” but not a single or tidy takeaway. I’ll be continuing to think on it for some time.
Genre wise it is (very unusual) domestic fiction with some speculative fiction and light horror elements. Despite it being more “experimental” I found the overall story very easy to follow and the execution tight; it was a genuinely enjoyable read that pulled me along quickly.
There’s a lot to love about this book. There’s a meditation on selfhood (its definition in relation to material objects and other people, its change and loss over time, the impressions it leaves on the world…) taking place alongside and through the focus on mushrooms and classical music that somehow just works really well. I liked seeing mushrooms in a speculative fiction context outside that of the “hive mind takeover” horror plot, something surprisingly commonplace over the past couple of years (in the US at least!)
I also appreciated the very gentle treatment of all the characters in this story. Even the workaholic husband, whose failure to confront his past causes harm to the people around him, is treated compassionately, as are his mother and ex-wife. The single best friend character is very funny and sweet as well.
I listened to this on audio, which I received from both Netgalley and Libro.fm as an advance ALC. It was a beautiful listening experience, prose and performance both magical.

This review has taken me a while to compose because I was so torn about the book. On the one hand, I loved the narration by Vera Chok. Her voice is mellifluous and hypnotic and kept me listening, even when I didn't really care what was happening in the story. And the story has that magical realism side to it which certainly drew me in. But... I'm not sure those were enough to keep me completely engaged. I enjoyed most of the story, even if I didn't understand some of it. I know there was a lot of deeper meaning, and symbolism, but I'm just not "that kind" of reader - I am quite literal, and not analytical, when reading for pleasure so I'm sure a lot was lost on me.
I enjoyed most of the story. I found the pacing and the descriptions, and the writing lovely. But then bright orange mushrooms started to talk, and I disengaged. Also, the main character feels so weak - physically, spiritually, mentally, that I never connected with her. Which is. a problem. I just never really understood her motivation, or lack of it. She is just a wet noodle (she never stands up for herself, doesn't seem to ever speak to her husband or his mother, and apparently misses all the clear signs that her husband is having an affair... he's gone for months and goes to a bar, not to see her when he returns?), yet I kept wanting to see what happened, and why she was portrayed that way.
This is my first experience with the author and I'm really considering reading her previous work to see if that helps me connect more with this one. I really want to love it, but I'm just not quite there.
Thank you to NetGalley, Grove Press, and Recorded Books Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinions.
I'd give the narration 5 stars, but not the book.

I have previously read and enjoyed An Yu's debut novel, Braised Pork, so I was excited to delve into this one. Similarly, Ghost Music also uses some light magical realism to explore loneliness, marriage and city life. I preferred the characterisation of the main character in Braised Pork, so I enjoyed Ghost Music slightly less, but I am still excited to see what else An Yu is going to bring out in the future!

Really loved the unsetteling atmposphere in this novel, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and made me fly though this. There are probably some part that flew over my head, but I enjoyed the way the author handled the different themes in this novel. The narrator did a great job, a really pleasing way of reading this.

I found this book to be a little challenging to get through. Although the imagery is beautiful, sometimes it felt like the characters didn’t get the opportunity to bloom into being beautiful too. It felt like there were many loose ends that never tied back to anything, never resolved. Which, I understand, could very well have been the point. In the end, the imagery alone made me like this book. As a reader unfamiliar with Beijing, I felt like I was learning something important about the lives of those living there.

A beautifully written magical realism book that takes place in Beijing China, covering loss and longing. I lived in Beijing for a few years as a teenager and this book made me realize that I have not read nearly enough books that take place in that amazing city. The audiobook was super easy to follow which I sometimes find really difficult with literary fiction which really credits both the writing as well as the narrator. I recommend this one whole heartedly!