Basham's novel has an intriguing beginning. A young chef who loses his brother must go on a quest to find himself. In his wanderings, he discovers a small town next to a lake that has no fish. Entering on a day of mourning for a town matriarch, he is drawn into their intrigue. All he wants to do his cook, but he finds a kinship with fish. He can no longer cook them. Everything comes crashing down in a magical realism ending.

Had a good start but the ending didn't satisfy me. I understanding the magical realism and peace with it, but it seemed to leave things unresolved.

This magical realism novel about grief, family, and legacy is evocative and visceral. It's gorgeous on the sentence level, with phrasing you want to reread and sit with for a while. The story as a whole is somewhat difficult to follow, so if you're a plot-driven reader who prefers clarity, it may not be for you. But there's so much to explore around loss and feeling untethered that really resonates.