Review: Ghost Music by An Yu

 

book cover of Ghost Music, orange mushroom are arranged like music notes on a page of sheet music

Since I've been posting more content online and through my social media channels, I've recently signed up for a NetGalley account. It's always been a bit daunting for me (why would anybody care what I'm reading?) but I have a wonderful chance to read upcoming work and hype up my fellow writers, so decided to shoot my shot.

I was approved for an ARC for GHOST MUSIC by An Yu and did blaze through it one afternoon-evening.

If you are a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro, this will probably be a story you enjoy. It's a melancholy and surrealist exploration of grief, loneliness, and the existential pain of being human. It reminded me quite a bit of A VIEW OF PALE HILLS by Ishiguro (in both the way the story is rendered as well as some of the plot strokes and conflicts). The book is quiet, following simple scenes of domestic and family life described with little fanfare. Yu does a great job though of weaving in the smallest of details, ones that reveal much about the characters and the conflicts at play.

Because of that, if you are not a fan of "quieter" works in which not a lot appears to happen, GHOST MUSIC probably won't be for you. I found the gentle pace of the story enthralling, as we are pulled into the minute details of Song Yan's life and the heartache of those around her. After the last page, I found myself reveling in both heartbreak and eeriness of the story.

Song Yan's narration is also very minimal. As the reader, we very much spend almost the entirety of the story in her head. Little is provided to ground us in time or place before her thoughts and memories move elsewhere. It definitely magnifies the surrealist and dream-like quality of the narrative, but something to consider if you prefer a more concrete sense of setting and time.

On that note, this is also a story that doesn't necessarily provide a clear cut ending. The surrealist nature of the book means that you should suspend a great deal of belief during your read. Song Yan describes during the story a sense of loss, but one in which she doesn't understand exactly what it is she's lost. That feeling encapsulates the ending for me as well.

 

Note: Part of this review also appears on Goodreads

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