This book wasn’t quite for me, but I can see why others might enjoy it. The writing has a lyrical, almost poetic style that didn’t fully click with me—I found it a bit too stream-of-consciousness, which made it hard to stay grounded in the story.

The real highlight for me was the imagery. The photographs and artwork were stunning and brought the book to life in a way the writing didn’t. I’m giving this one 3 stars mainly for the visuals, but I think it’s one of those books that depends alot on personal taste.

This book took a bit of time for me to get into, but overall it was a good read. it is full of essay style stories of times way past, of generations and the war times, and moving continents and grief. it is a bit of a heavy read, but it had so much that i got to learn about, think about and the parts that i really loved, about the myths and calendar.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s quite beautiful and full of stories and culture, memories, artwork, photographs, poetry. It feels like a great work dedicated to an extraordinary person.

The author smoothly weaved between personal memories, stories of her father, and essay like vignettes on a variety of topics.

Probably the most unusual and interesting thing about this book for me was seeing the author’s stunning calligraphy. Learning about the process and her works and getting to see so many pieces was wonderful and unusual in a memoir. I loved how much the author wove art into the book.

I also liked learning about her father, who is a central point in the author’s life and in this memoir. As a centenarian, the man had a rich and diverse life full of myriad accomplishments and achievements. It was fascinating to see how many different things a person could accomplish in his life. I also liked the way the author highlighted that this is what it looks like to not sleepwalk through life.

Sometimes I didn’t really connect with the voice of the author. But then other times, I would be super engrossed in a section and not be able to put it down. It really felt like a quilt of bits and pieces of a person’s being tied together in homage. Very good!

I loved the magical aspects of this memoir . It was genuinely so sweet and emotional .
Thank you for the eArc .

There was a lot of good in this book - overall, I liked it!
The first chapter was beautiful and drew me right in. I loved the pictures, especially the art by the author herself, it's absolutely gorgeous!
And the book itself is a beautiful exploration of grief, an account of the author's journey through her grief, and in the meantime finding more about her family's history.
A lot of the author's world, including her views on stories and magic, was really food for thought for me, and a lot of her stories and insights were fascinating.
I read an unedited copy, with some legends still missing/lorem ipsum-ed, which I completely understand as it was an ARC, but the text itself felt like it could have gone through another editing/shortening phase before being sent to reviewers. I struggled to keep my focus towards the middle of the book, as some of the structure and stories started to feel a bit more repetitive and longer than they should.
I want to thank NetGalley and Girl Friday Productions for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am unfortunately DNFing this title at page 100 for my own mental health. This is not due to any fault of the book. It is beautifully written and the author has very clearly put a lot of effort into this. It is a poignant and touching memoir, and I have found myself tearing up several times. I'm just finding that this isn't the right time for me to be reading such a book.
I hope to pick this up again sometime in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a long and winding read that weaves multiple ideas throughout. The physical version is over 400 pages, but I promise there are lots of pictures.

The first principle that is important to understanding the author’s aims here is the difference between “logos” and “mythos.” Logos is facts, logic, knowledge. Mythos is story, and the underlying meaning behind the facts. Chan then takes us along with her on a quest to get in touch with more mythos in her life.

Her paternal grandfather came here from China, and settled in Savannah, Georgia. Both he and her dad lived pretty long lives, and accomplished a lot for people who initially lived under Jim Crow and were not considered white. She tells us many stories of these two generations of her family – and some of her mom, as well – but mostly she is focused on excavating chapters of her dad’s life. He was already 60 when she was born, so there was a lot that came before her! His time in WWII features prominently, as told through his old letters to his first wife.

Eventually, she does some geneological digging, and learns of a few ancestors on her paternal grandmother’s side. These stories come late in the book, but are just as wild as the others she grew up knowing.

Interspersed with these family stories, though, are the present: what she is doing and feeling in these years, nearing and after her father’s death, that prompts her to dig up these stories. And learning about her dad’s life isn’t the only way she finds to connect to the mythos in hers: travel, gardening, painting, and poetry are all featured prominently.

While there are many pretty pictures and interesting tales, obviously this book is not all pretty things. There is much talk of war, as mentioned earlier. Grief is a major theme. Being descended from immigrants, racism, and whether we carry intergenerational trauma are all there, as well.

This book is out now, and would appeal to people more interested in mythos than logos: artists, poets, philosophers of all shapes. It might frustrate some, though, who want a story to be in a logical order. It’s a beautiful ride, though, if you’re willing to just “go with the flow.”

This book is the embodiment of working your grief through art and creating something beautiful in the process. I loved the beautiful writing style, in a stream of consciousness, kinda private journal style. It provides a sense of closeness, an intimate atmosphere, inviting you to explore this ode to her family, their resilience, and ultimately, the pain of parting with loved ones. All this accompanied by amazing pictures and great artwork.

There's no straight path out of grief and loss. We choose whichever ways resonate with us better. It was interesting to see how healing can happen through art, storytelling, and even astrology. The blend of emotions associated with the author's family history, social commentary, and spiritual guidance made this a unique reading experience for me. Bittersweet, but filled with hope and ultimately life-affirming.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing access to a digital copy.

If you're looking for a heartfelt, touching sort of reading with a non-traditional structure and a lot of family feels, this might be the book for you.

It's a deeply personal book, I can recognize that. Yet I had trouble connecting with it. It seemed to have a lot of text and the essence was lost on me. I feel this is this type of book that would do amazing in audio read by the author.
What I appreciate the most was the historical connection that goes through generations. I like that motive. Overall it was a medium read for me but I'm glad I read it.

Thank you again @NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.

For promotion I plan to share my review of In the Garden Behind the Moon this week on my instagram page as well as share a review on Goodreads which I will update this review with.

What I loved: I loved that this memoir had photos. I honestly that is what made this a 5 star memoir for me. While this arc did not have captions, the placement of the photos was relevant to the text which made it easy to follow. I really enjoyed the simplicity and candidness of this memoir: a girl who deeply loved her parents and reflects on how she was shaped by them, their lives, and also their passing. While I haven't lost a parent yet, this book made me deeply sympathetic and I really loved the Chinese mythology and the Chinese calendar mixed in. I learned, I laughed, and I loved this.

Thank you again.

This was a beautiful story that is described as a memoir infused with magical mythology. It's both heartening and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Flashpoint and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Alexandra A. Chan’s In the Garden Behind the Moon is a beautifully written memoir on grief. The loss of a parent can be a profound experience. Chan’s writing combines her personal story with mythology to understand the aftermath of her father’s absence and honour her family heritage. Chan carefully balances myth and reality in her work and provides comfort to those who are also dealing with grief. Her illustrations are beautiful and add an immersive element to her memoir.

In the Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic<i> is a tribute from a daughter who must learn a new reality after the passing of her beloved father. Alexandra Chan copes with the monumental loss by pushing against the life structures she previously lived by. As she grieves Chan discovers new perspectives that set her artistic nature free. She learns to make traditional Chinese characters and incorporates them into her art. She takes photographs and spends a lot of time in nature. She attributes the everyday miracles she experiences to the Chan family magic she believes is guiding her. As she challenges her thinking, she finds solace and healing while learning Chan family stories. She discovers "Every story is about whether you got what you wanted most, or didn't, and who you became in the process of trying."
Her memoir takes the reader across time and through the world as she shares her ancestors' stories and her travels. Some of her stories seem unrelated until she carefully brings them back to the reader while sharing the insights she has gained. <I> In the Garden Behind the Moon: A Memoir of Loss, Myth, and Magic<I> is an intriguing read that captures Chinese wisdom while sharing what it took to grow into the woman she wanted to become.

In the Garden Behind the Moon is a moving and magical memoir. Through lyrical prose, Alexandra Chan shares the history of her larger-than-life father, as she tries to work through the grief of his loss. In doing so, she realizes that she’s also telling her own story, and not just his.

This memoir weaves together research, stories passed down, and mythology. It also includes a number of interesting pictures, and some absolutely gorgeous artwork provided by the author herself.

This was entirely engaging and often poignant. I do wish there had been more about the author’s mother, but that’s not the story she’s telling here. Maybe we’ll be lucky and she’ll tackle that next. I would definitely read it.

Thank you Alexandra Chan, Flashpoint, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

While I truly enjoyed the writing, I still felt a disconnect with this book - I think mainly because of the way it is structured. I know it’s a memoir and the author’s way of working through her grief of losing a parent, intertwined with bits and pieces of her family history - but I feel it would have been better if it would have been one or the other. As it is, for me it’s lacking that little something that differentiates a good/ enjoyable read from a great read.

Reading this book was like walking through a beautiful, yet slightly disorienting, dream. The author's lyrical prose is a highlight, and the stream-of-consciousness style offers a direct line into the author's raw and unfiltered thoughts. This approach brings intimacy to the stories but often felt like wading through a dense fog, trying to grasp elusive narrative threads. There are compelling stories and nice pictures that add visual charm, but I found it difficult to stay connected to the narrative, and at times, it felt a bit too long. While I appreciate the artistry and unique approach, it didn't fully resonate with me. If you enjoy lyrical, poetic writing and don't mind narrative ambiguity, this might be the perfect read for you.

Ok before I get started I think it is important to distinguish that I don’t think this book was ultimately for me. I’m not saying it was poorly written or that it isn’t worth reading, but it didn’t work for me. I think he writing could be found beautiful in a lyrical/poetic way, but to me the writing was a little too stream of consciousness and I found myself drifting along and unable to keep track of where I was in the story. I did like some of the stories and I am sure the author had more worthy stories, but the style just didn’t work well for me. As the book went on (and perhaps a little long and could have been edited) I was able to adjust a little better and follow it a little better, but I never got lost in these pages. I think my favorite part was honestly the pictures. They brought the people in this book that I knew were amazing to life in a way the writing did not for me. I also loved the pictures of the author’s art, it was beautiful. Overall I gave this one 2.5 stars that I rounded up due to the amazing pictures, but the overall goodreads rating is much higher so this experience could totally just be me.

i always try my absolute hardest to finish every book i start (especially advanced copies!) but this was just not gonna work for me. dnf at 13%

This was such an incredibly moving memoir. I loved Chan’s voice and the way in which she weaved stories together. I have so many highlights in my kindle, which means I’ll have to buy the book when it’s available. The first part was a bit slow for my taste, but I powered through and I’m so glad I did.

I found this memoir really hard to get into. The writing style felt needlessly complicated, to the point where I could barely follow what the author was sharing. I really loved the concepts and themes of this memoir though. I really resonated with her sharing about following her inner voice at the beginning. I may try to listen to this as an audiobook later. It may be more impactful for me personally in that format