→4.5

Who knew that a book about mushrooms could be so good?

This book did nothing but encourage my growing mycophilia.

I'm not even that into eating mushrooms but I love learning about how weird and diverse that kingdom of living organisms is. how some species pair only with very specific species of trees. The difficulties with olfactory descriptions and the cultural biases of what is edible, non-comestible, and toxic (highly toxic is pretty universally agreed on). And don't get me started on my fascination with mycoremediation, or really wanting to spot a deeply purple mushroom in real life.

This book was also a blend of the authors' grief at her partner's sudden death; how she took an intro mushroom class that they had planned to do together, and subsequently learned to live again

3.5 stars for my personal enjoyment, 4 stars for my assessment if you were more specifically interested in learning about mushrooms, as opposed to my general curiosity about all the things so why not take a flyer on a book with a lot of information about mushrooms.

Pleasantly surprised by how well the author wrote of becoming part of the mushrooming world and dealing with the grief of losing her husband and life afterwards. Learned a great deal about mushrooms myself through this. Always appreciate seeing the different ways people can connect through something that may have been entirely unknown earlier in life. Yes, there is heaviness in fumbling through loss but also humor in reading of the idiosyncrasies in foragers.

The author turned to mushrooming while grieving her husband; I read this book while grieving my mushroom-foraging&loving mother. There was more disconnect than I initially expected! I really enjoyed the author's perspective as a Malaysian person commenting on Norwegian society through the lens of mushrooms - that alone, and then combined with the linguistic elements, was more than enough to hold my interest. I also liked the commentary on societal reaction to mushrooms, from what different cultures consider good or bad smelling, to how descriptions of mushrooms smells might become outdated or reference now-unfamiliar smells.

I think this was a 3.5/5 for me. I enjoyed many aspects of this book -- I found the author's journey through mourning and rediscovery of the joys of life through mushrooms to be really uplifting. However, the grief sections and the mushroom sections did not blend together really well. I found both compelling in their own ways, but the transition from a section about her grief upon losing her husband would be followed by a completely unrelated info dump about mushrooms. I can appreciate (and relate) to both sections on grief and mushroom fanaticism, but I feel like a little more style is needed to blend the two harmoniously. I also don't know if this is a result of the translation, but I found the prose quite stiff and lacking in voice. I can relate to her sections on grief, but they did not make me feel a lot of emotion for her because they were written in such a matter-of-fact way. I'm not sure that is the most effective tone in this case, and I would have like to have been more emotionally engaged.

On an unrelated note -- I found the author's great interest in hierarchy in the mushroom world rather uncomfortable for me personally. So much of my life involves being trapped in a hierarchy and feeling insecure about my place there, why must we hyperfocus on that within a hobby that is supposed to be fun and for everyone? Perhaps this is my own insecurity talking, but I'd rather not try to place myself in the mushroom hobbyist ladder and see how I can be better in the eyes of others. This is for fun, it's not my career. I don't love this ladder climbing attitude that is very present in this book, it feels competitive in a way that makes me feel somewhat sad. This is a hobby meant to relax, I don't want to feel competitive. But, this is all my own personal feeling and doesn't comment on the quality of the book, so take this rant with a grain of salt.

Overall, it's a fine book. I went through it quickly and felt it had some good ideas to offer.

Björk, Fossora