What do you think?
Rate this book
Fruiting Bodies: Stories
In stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters—mostly queer, mostly women—on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis.
In “The Changeling,” two young cousins wait in dread for a new family member to arrive, convinced that he may be a dangerous supernatural creature. In “Endangered Animals,” Jane prepares to say goodbye to her almost-love while they road-trip across a country irrevocably altered by climate change. In “Take Only What Belongs to You,” a queer woman struggles with the personal history of an author she idolized, while in “Fiddler, Fool, Pair,” an anthropologist is drawn into a magical—and dangerous—gamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agnes’s body—until an unwanted male guest disturbs their cloistered home.
Audacious, striking, and wholly original, Fruiting Bodies offers stories about knowledge in a world on the verge of collapse, knowledge that alternately empowers or devastates. Pulling beautifully, brazenly, from a variety of literary traditions, Kathryn Harlan firmly establishes herself as a thrilling new voice in fiction.
In “The Changeling,” two young cousins wait in dread for a new family member to arrive, convinced that he may be a dangerous supernatural creature. In “Endangered Animals,” Jane prepares to say goodbye to her almost-love while they road-trip across a country irrevocably altered by climate change. In “Take Only What Belongs to You,” a queer woman struggles with the personal history of an author she idolized, while in “Fiddler, Fool, Pair,” an anthropologist is drawn into a magical—and dangerous—gamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agnes’s body—until an unwanted male guest disturbs their cloistered home.
Audacious, striking, and wholly original, Fruiting Bodies offers stories about knowledge in a world on the verge of collapse, knowledge that alternately empowers or devastates. Pulling beautifully, brazenly, from a variety of literary traditions, Kathryn Harlan firmly establishes herself as a thrilling new voice in fiction.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 7, 2022
About the author
Kathryn Harlan
1 book172 followersKathryn Harlan is a fiction writer and educator. Originally from California, she and her cat are now based (freezing) in Wisconsin. She holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she now teaches creative and academic writing. Her work has appeared in publications like Strange Horizons, The Gettysburg Review, and The Colorado Review.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 556 reviews
May 31, 2023
lesbian contemporary fairytales can be something so important
June 8, 2022
The woods know what to do with a body.*
Harlan's collection of eight wonderful stories shimmer with magic, and lush greenery all the while hiding a certain, and certainly tempting, danger. Her characters struggle with obsessions: from dead writers to cryptids to forbidden swimming holes. In one eerie story, a woman learns that gambling with the fae can cost you an arm and a leg . . . literally.
It might have been luck or it might've been the law and logic of the fairy tale that that first time Naomi walked past the hill, someone else was going into it. The infinitesimal odds transfix her either way, that visible hinge where her life pivoted on coincidence. Naomi standing with her bare ankles in the Chess, her shoes discarded on the bank, watching a woman come to the base of the hillside and pause, holding herself still as a praying mantis on a leaf, and then plunge smoothly into the earth. The place where her body entered the ground is a little greener than the rest. Foxglove grows graciously out of it.**
I've taken my time with these lovely and treacherous tales, tasted them, and savored them. All would make for a mesmerizing, languid summer read.
*From the title story
** From Fiddler, Fool Pair
Harlan's collection of eight wonderful stories shimmer with magic, and lush greenery all the while hiding a certain, and certainly tempting, danger. Her characters struggle with obsessions: from dead writers to cryptids to forbidden swimming holes. In one eerie story, a woman learns that gambling with the fae can cost you an arm and a leg . . . literally.
It might have been luck or it might've been the law and logic of the fairy tale that that first time Naomi walked past the hill, someone else was going into it. The infinitesimal odds transfix her either way, that visible hinge where her life pivoted on coincidence. Naomi standing with her bare ankles in the Chess, her shoes discarded on the bank, watching a woman come to the base of the hillside and pause, holding herself still as a praying mantis on a leaf, and then plunge smoothly into the earth. The place where her body entered the ground is a little greener than the rest. Foxglove grows graciously out of it.**
I've taken my time with these lovely and treacherous tales, tasted them, and savored them. All would make for a mesmerizing, languid summer read.
*From the title story
** From Fiddler, Fool Pair
August 13, 2022
Lately I have gotten more into short story collections and end up enjoying them a lot more than I used to. This was still an surprise and think it's one of the top short story collections of the year for me
August 26, 2022
gay women are so smart and good at everything. also mushrooms.
July 5, 2022
Probably my favorite collection of 2022 so far. The main characters are mostly girls and young women, mostly queer, struggling to make crucial decisions in precarious situations, often with magic realist elements. In the best stories, the tension is beautifully sustained (see for example "The Changeling", where the girls' delusions about the baby keep the narrative teetering on a knife's edge); the outcomes are often surprising. I usually prefer tighter treatments. But I enjoyed the longer pieces as well, where the character sketches and intimacies have time to unspool.
I enjoyed "Take Only What Belongs to You", about a literary quest. The protagonist is obsessed with an author and establishing her queerness, something that I can relate to. The beauty of "Fiddler, Fool Pair" is mostly in the wordplay, juggling classic fairy lore and magical card games; this kind of proto-fantasy piece is usually a tough sell for me, but I liked Harlan's approach.
The title story is my favorite, with the tender magic realist intimacies, the mysterious intruder disrupting the couple's domestic routine, and the tension ratcheting up to the surprise ending. "Endangered Animals" is less impressive, but it captures a kind of sadness in unraveling/evolving relationships, and the larger changes in the world, that I found quite attractive.
(3.5 stars, rounded up)
I enjoyed "Take Only What Belongs to You", about a literary quest. The protagonist is obsessed with an author and establishing her queerness, something that I can relate to. The beauty of "Fiddler, Fool Pair" is mostly in the wordplay, juggling classic fairy lore and magical card games; this kind of proto-fantasy piece is usually a tough sell for me, but I liked Harlan's approach.
The title story is my favorite, with the tender magic realist intimacies, the mysterious intruder disrupting the couple's domestic routine, and the tension ratcheting up to the surprise ending. "Endangered Animals" is less impressive, but it captures a kind of sadness in unraveling/evolving relationships, and the larger changes in the world, that I found quite attractive.
(3.5 stars, rounded up)
January 14, 2023
“It was getting worse in a way you could see.”
LET THE RECORD SHOW that while I read horror, like actual horror, like Stephen Graham Jones blood spurting body horror horror, this book made me squirm more than most. You know how there are those handful of criminal minds episodes that for some reason just make you want to crawl out of your skin? It's not that they're especially violent or more heinous than the others, but there is just something about them - I'm looking at you, human marionette episode - that just makes your tongue swell up? This felt like that sometimes. But maybe I was in a fragile mood.
ANYWAY.
If there is one lit thing I love, it’s women sharing apartments with former pieces, versions, severed segments of themselves. In Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - and please forgive my sloppy paraphrasing - a woman undergoes gastric bypass surgery and soon after gets a new roomate. All the weight she has lost now lives as a groaning, tangible form in her house. Haunting her, sure, but really just keeping her company. Giving her a new perspective. This creature, this being, allows her to humanize the pieces of herself that she loathed for so long.
In Is This You? - the sixth story in Fruiting Bodies - Mara is accompanied by her youthful editions. She comes home and wakes up to find herself at age eight, twelve, seventeen etc., eating cereal, googling rare diseases on her computer, sobbing uncontrollably. They go with her to brunch and therapy, where she processes her relationship with her estranged mother - think Adora Crellin of Sharp Objects - think Lucille Bluth just slightly more sinister and with literary ambitions. It’s a story about pinpointing the place where we end and our parents begin. About laying all our flaws and fears and ways that we have failed out in front of us, and then forgiving ourselves. Mara realizes that given the circumstances of her upbringing, of her mothers approach to mothering, Mara really did the best she could have done. And that these writhing, fearful little Maras of eight and eleven and sixteen are actually not hers to contend with. It’s dear ole mom who outta face up to her creations.
Stories about women, our love for each other, our tendency to shape-shift. Stories about squirming - in your youth, with your parents, in your head and with your friends. Wanting to be seen but not knowing where or how to start the unveiling. What if I’m too much? What if they can’t hold it all?
Stories that landed in my mind somewhere between my high school diary, an episode of Hannibal, every fight I’ve ever had with my mother, spending too long in the car with someone you might love but also hate, and those friendships where she and I shared all our secrets and held hands a lot and then everything ended all at once. No fanfare, just a gutting and sudden not-talking.
Took me longer to finish than I expected. The stories aren’t exactly dense or difficult - they just require some chewing. Some needed to be started again at the end, just to be sure I got what was meant to be gotten. I’m sure I didn’t get it all. Maybe you will.
LET THE RECORD SHOW that while I read horror, like actual horror, like Stephen Graham Jones blood spurting body horror horror, this book made me squirm more than most. You know how there are those handful of criminal minds episodes that for some reason just make you want to crawl out of your skin? It's not that they're especially violent or more heinous than the others, but there is just something about them - I'm looking at you, human marionette episode - that just makes your tongue swell up? This felt like that sometimes. But maybe I was in a fragile mood.
ANYWAY.
If there is one lit thing I love, it’s women sharing apartments with former pieces, versions, severed segments of themselves. In Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - and please forgive my sloppy paraphrasing - a woman undergoes gastric bypass surgery and soon after gets a new roomate. All the weight she has lost now lives as a groaning, tangible form in her house. Haunting her, sure, but really just keeping her company. Giving her a new perspective. This creature, this being, allows her to humanize the pieces of herself that she loathed for so long.
In Is This You? - the sixth story in Fruiting Bodies - Mara is accompanied by her youthful editions. She comes home and wakes up to find herself at age eight, twelve, seventeen etc., eating cereal, googling rare diseases on her computer, sobbing uncontrollably. They go with her to brunch and therapy, where she processes her relationship with her estranged mother - think Adora Crellin of Sharp Objects - think Lucille Bluth just slightly more sinister and with literary ambitions. It’s a story about pinpointing the place where we end and our parents begin. About laying all our flaws and fears and ways that we have failed out in front of us, and then forgiving ourselves. Mara realizes that given the circumstances of her upbringing, of her mothers approach to mothering, Mara really did the best she could have done. And that these writhing, fearful little Maras of eight and eleven and sixteen are actually not hers to contend with. It’s dear ole mom who outta face up to her creations.
Stories about women, our love for each other, our tendency to shape-shift. Stories about squirming - in your youth, with your parents, in your head and with your friends. Wanting to be seen but not knowing where or how to start the unveiling. What if I’m too much? What if they can’t hold it all?
Stories that landed in my mind somewhere between my high school diary, an episode of Hannibal, every fight I’ve ever had with my mother, spending too long in the car with someone you might love but also hate, and those friendships where she and I shared all our secrets and held hands a lot and then everything ended all at once. No fanfare, just a gutting and sudden not-talking.
Took me longer to finish than I expected. The stories aren’t exactly dense or difficult - they just require some chewing. Some needed to be started again at the end, just to be sure I got what was meant to be gotten. I’m sure I didn’t get it all. Maybe you will.
April 5, 2023
Collection of eight short stories linked by a common theme: young women coming of age in an environmentally damaged world. The author employs magical realism and speculative elements in most of the stories.
- Algae Bloom portrays a Sapphic story of adolescent girls tempted to swim in a toxic lake. I particularly liked this one. It captures the recklessness and fuzzy thinking that encapsulates this time of life. 4*
- Hunting the Viper King is a story of a girl and her father going on a trip together to search for the mythical Viper King. Dorothy, the daughter, gets caught up in her father’s obsessive quest. This story gets fairly gruesome before it is over. 3*
- The Changeling is about two cousins waiting for the arrival of a new family member. Aunt Vera is about to deliver a baby, and the girls are certain the baby will be a grotesque creature. It ends abruptly, which felt unsatisfying. 3*
- In Take Only What Belongs To You, Esther, a young woman, seeks to understand the life of an older deceased female author whose writings have meant a lot to her. She researches her correspondences, attempting to project desired character traits onto her favorite writer. 3*
- Fiddler, Fool Pair is a fantasy set in an underworld casino. It features a combination of faeries, animals, and gambling on a card game. Extremely unusual bets are made in the game (e.g., an hour of magic, body parts, a name, periods of a life, colors, memories, etc.) 4*
- Is This You? refers to a fraught mother-daughter relationship. The protagonist is visited by “ghosts” of her younger self. Her mother is an author who has written about traumatic parts of her daughter’s life. There are hints of child abuse. It is bizarre and unsettling. 3.5*
- Fruiting Bodies is the story of a girl who can grow mushrooms directly on her body. This one is a bit too bizarre and bordering on horror for my taste, but definitely unique. 2.5*
- Endangered Animals follows two young women partners taking a trip together from California (during the wildfires) to Glacier National Park, accompanied by a hamster named Emily Dickinson. The main themes are climate change and vanishing species. 3.5*
In biology, fruiting bodies are spore-containing fungal structures. I liked the way the author played with this unusual theme. The concepts are creative, and the writing is atmospheric. Much of the content is dark. It is a mix of fantasy, folklore, and horror. As is typical for me with short story collections, I liked some more than others, but as a whole, it is a solid collection.
3.5
- Algae Bloom portrays a Sapphic story of adolescent girls tempted to swim in a toxic lake. I particularly liked this one. It captures the recklessness and fuzzy thinking that encapsulates this time of life. 4*
- Hunting the Viper King is a story of a girl and her father going on a trip together to search for the mythical Viper King. Dorothy, the daughter, gets caught up in her father’s obsessive quest. This story gets fairly gruesome before it is over. 3*
- The Changeling is about two cousins waiting for the arrival of a new family member. Aunt Vera is about to deliver a baby, and the girls are certain the baby will be a grotesque creature. It ends abruptly, which felt unsatisfying. 3*
- In Take Only What Belongs To You, Esther, a young woman, seeks to understand the life of an older deceased female author whose writings have meant a lot to her. She researches her correspondences, attempting to project desired character traits onto her favorite writer. 3*
- Fiddler, Fool Pair is a fantasy set in an underworld casino. It features a combination of faeries, animals, and gambling on a card game. Extremely unusual bets are made in the game (e.g., an hour of magic, body parts, a name, periods of a life, colors, memories, etc.) 4*
- Is This You? refers to a fraught mother-daughter relationship. The protagonist is visited by “ghosts” of her younger self. Her mother is an author who has written about traumatic parts of her daughter’s life. There are hints of child abuse. It is bizarre and unsettling. 3.5*
- Fruiting Bodies is the story of a girl who can grow mushrooms directly on her body. This one is a bit too bizarre and bordering on horror for my taste, but definitely unique. 2.5*
- Endangered Animals follows two young women partners taking a trip together from California (during the wildfires) to Glacier National Park, accompanied by a hamster named Emily Dickinson. The main themes are climate change and vanishing species. 3.5*
In biology, fruiting bodies are spore-containing fungal structures. I liked the way the author played with this unusual theme. The concepts are creative, and the writing is atmospheric. Much of the content is dark. It is a mix of fantasy, folklore, and horror. As is typical for me with short story collections, I liked some more than others, but as a whole, it is a solid collection.
3.5
August 1, 2022
I found this pretty incredible. The various stories are all queer, varying in subject, and damned interesting. The writing is super high quality, and the titular story was equal parts phenomal and viscerally disturbing. A solid collection.
July 18, 2023
This book of short stories was odd, fascinating & engaging. I loved that they were all surrounded around mostly women, mostly queer characters & that they left me wondering where the story went after I stopped reading. I definitely had my favorite tales! I think Algal Bloom was my #1, Fruiting Bodies #2, Endangered Animals #3, The Changeling #4, Take Only What Belongs to You #5, Is This You? #6, Hunting the Viper King #7 & Fiddler, Fool Pair #8 (that one never captured me & I ended up skipping it). This book was almost too descriptive at times for me! It included so much detail I was left shuddering at some depictions. Especially for the more triggering scenes with Maura… But also for the scenes in Fruiting Bodies with the biting… And I’m a mushroom lover! Lol. I thought this collection was sooooo weird in such a beautiful way & I know why so many people suggested it to me. It covered a vast range of topics like youth, nostalgia, remembering your old self, foolery, mental health, budding romance, queerness, self hatred, self love, protectiveness, being a sibling, believing in something bigger than yourself & so much more. It’s not often that I read a collection of short stories so diverse in topics & I appreciated that so much! I will definitely read more from Kathryn Harlan in the future. A wonderful author!
April 11, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded up.
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this debut! It was very feminist of Carmen Maria-Machado’s “Her Body and Other Parties” in the sense that this was a collection of gothic and primarily queer stories that focused more-so on women and the female experience. My favorite stories were in this collection were “Algal Bloom”, “Is This You?”, and “Fruiting Bodies”.
I would certainly recommend this one to fans of Maria-Machado and look forward to whatever this author publishes next!
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this debut! It was very feminist of Carmen Maria-Machado’s “Her Body and Other Parties” in the sense that this was a collection of gothic and primarily queer stories that focused more-so on women and the female experience. My favorite stories were in this collection were “Algal Bloom”, “Is This You?”, and “Fruiting Bodies”.
I would certainly recommend this one to fans of Maria-Machado and look forward to whatever this author publishes next!
September 7, 2023
this is the kind of book i wish there were more of. it’s also the kind of book that makes me want to start writing again because there aren’t enough stories about lesbian couples murdering men who show up unwelcome at your doorstep with poisonous mushrooms that grew from your own body.
i decided to review each of the stories and give my one interpretation because many of them are very ambiguous.
ALGAL BLOOM
5 ⭐️
this story feels like the end of august when it’s been too hot too long and the air is thick and you start to feel claustrophobic from the heat and an unidentified sense of panic sets in when you realize things aren’t okay.
HUNTING THE VIPER-KING
5⭐️
this story reminds me a lot of the human condition. of being mortal, being flawed, being selfish, being overly ambitious despite lack of grounding. the fortune teller is portrayed as a mythical woman who knows more than anyone when in reality, she’s a teen mother just trying to make cash to raise her daughter. dorothy’s dad is not that fantastical, spiritual, brave man burns father who lost sight of his role raising his little girl for another dream. her work flip flops, her empty belly all evidence of his neglect. he’s not horrible, but he’s not great.
sometimes there isn’t a reason for every action we take, and we get caught up in the chase only to realize what we lost and what we are currently missing. at the end of the day, she is her father’s child and she’s human too. she eats the fat because she’s been told the tale of the viper king as a bedtime story, and also because she simply could.
THE CHANGELING
4⭐️
very uncertain about this one, especially the ending. but, i did start thinking about childhood and the horrors of it. how scary and real everything appears to be, no matter how absurd. i think the story would be a lot less remarkable if it was told by the adults. children don’t think based in reality, but they should still be taken seriously because their concerns seem so big to them. there is also this constant, permeating theme of “otherness” from ruth’s adoption, to the bug facts and the obvious “changing.”
potential commentary about motherhood and birth. how women’s bodies are viewed as nothing more than a vessel to carry a different life.
TAKE ONLY WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
3.5⭐️
parasocial relationships: literary edition. i don’t think snake liked women, and that’s the tragedy of the story. queer longing that is not matched and filed away in the pages of the past. anais became what esther lacked, both growing up and now. a lack of representation and connection with her identity led her to project what she needed on anais. i don’t love the ending because i think it spells out the meaning of a short story a little too easily, which is not consistent with the others
FIDDLER, FOOL PAIR
3⭐️
gets a bit repetitive, could have cut out a lot of the gambling parts and lists of cards, i had a hard time staying invested the longer the story went on. excellent concept, just didn’t LOVE the execution.
ended in an unexpected way, i thought something awful was going to happen. i think gambling addiction is an obvious theme, how people start loosing everything plus the sight of their own life. i also think the ending being positive may be about how humans should come together more often simply on the basis that we are all humans.
IS THIS YOU?
5⭐️
saddest of all the stories, made me feel a lot of emotions. has some of the best quotes and a great commentary on the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and how that relationship changes with age and perspective.
FRUITING BODIES
5⭐️
absolutely fantastic. the titular story seems to be a pretty obvious commentary on how society but especially men view queer female relationships. agnes’s mushrooms are an obvious metaphor for that quiet love, and how some people like arthur (representing men) have a desire to be involved and insert themselves into spaces they don’t belong.
also explores what we do for love and the lengths we go to in order to protect those we care about.
agnes struggles with saying no, and feels unsafe rejected men who fetishize her. she puts in a performance until she can grow the poison mushrooms to get rid of him.
ENDANGERED ANIMALS
3⭐️
wasn’t that entertaining simply because it is a little too real. their relationship isn’t meant to be, her they cling to each other because the world is burning and their future is bleak and nothing is dependable except a feeling of loneliness and despair at the state of the world.
i decided to review each of the stories and give my one interpretation because many of them are very ambiguous.
ALGAL BLOOM
5 ⭐️
this story feels like the end of august when it’s been too hot too long and the air is thick and you start to feel claustrophobic from the heat and an unidentified sense of panic sets in when you realize things aren’t okay.
HUNTING THE VIPER-KING
5⭐️
this story reminds me a lot of the human condition. of being mortal, being flawed, being selfish, being overly ambitious despite lack of grounding. the fortune teller is portrayed as a mythical woman who knows more than anyone when in reality, she’s a teen mother just trying to make cash to raise her daughter. dorothy’s dad is not that fantastical, spiritual, brave man burns father who lost sight of his role raising his little girl for another dream. her work flip flops, her empty belly all evidence of his neglect. he’s not horrible, but he’s not great.
sometimes there isn’t a reason for every action we take, and we get caught up in the chase only to realize what we lost and what we are currently missing. at the end of the day, she is her father’s child and she’s human too. she eats the fat because she’s been told the tale of the viper king as a bedtime story, and also because she simply could.
THE CHANGELING
4⭐️
very uncertain about this one, especially the ending. but, i did start thinking about childhood and the horrors of it. how scary and real everything appears to be, no matter how absurd. i think the story would be a lot less remarkable if it was told by the adults. children don’t think based in reality, but they should still be taken seriously because their concerns seem so big to them. there is also this constant, permeating theme of “otherness” from ruth’s adoption, to the bug facts and the obvious “changing.”
potential commentary about motherhood and birth. how women’s bodies are viewed as nothing more than a vessel to carry a different life.
TAKE ONLY WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
3.5⭐️
parasocial relationships: literary edition. i don’t think snake liked women, and that’s the tragedy of the story. queer longing that is not matched and filed away in the pages of the past. anais became what esther lacked, both growing up and now. a lack of representation and connection with her identity led her to project what she needed on anais. i don’t love the ending because i think it spells out the meaning of a short story a little too easily, which is not consistent with the others
FIDDLER, FOOL PAIR
3⭐️
gets a bit repetitive, could have cut out a lot of the gambling parts and lists of cards, i had a hard time staying invested the longer the story went on. excellent concept, just didn’t LOVE the execution.
ended in an unexpected way, i thought something awful was going to happen. i think gambling addiction is an obvious theme, how people start loosing everything plus the sight of their own life. i also think the ending being positive may be about how humans should come together more often simply on the basis that we are all humans.
IS THIS YOU?
5⭐️
saddest of all the stories, made me feel a lot of emotions. has some of the best quotes and a great commentary on the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and how that relationship changes with age and perspective.
FRUITING BODIES
5⭐️
absolutely fantastic. the titular story seems to be a pretty obvious commentary on how society but especially men view queer female relationships. agnes’s mushrooms are an obvious metaphor for that quiet love, and how some people like arthur (representing men) have a desire to be involved and insert themselves into spaces they don’t belong.
also explores what we do for love and the lengths we go to in order to protect those we care about.
agnes struggles with saying no, and feels unsafe rejected men who fetishize her. she puts in a performance until she can grow the poison mushrooms to get rid of him.
ENDANGERED ANIMALS
3⭐️
wasn’t that entertaining simply because it is a little too real. their relationship isn’t meant to be, her they cling to each other because the world is burning and their future is bleak and nothing is dependable except a feeling of loneliness and despair at the state of the world.
July 26, 2022
Not sure how I want to rate this collection. I really really liked most of the stories. Especially the ones with more fantastical, magical elements. However, even the stories more grounded in reality (which I enjoyed less while reading) have me thinking about them over and over. My favorites would be “Hunting the Viper-King”, “Fiddler, Fool Pair”, “Is This You?” - these stories follow women being selfish, selfless, caring, and harsh. And ughhh I loved them.
My main issue was something I noticed happened in 3 or 4 of the stories (out of 8). The only times the main character would mention their body and how they felt about it would be if they were bigger and wishing they had the body of a friend or partner. That they could cut of pieces or shrink to make themselves smaller. And this is a reality, that’s not my issue. It’s more that the opposite side isn’t explored. I don’t know why this seemed to be such an issue that came up many times.
I’d say 3.5 ⭐️ but rounding up.
My main issue was something I noticed happened in 3 or 4 of the stories (out of 8). The only times the main character would mention their body and how they felt about it would be if they were bigger and wishing they had the body of a friend or partner. That they could cut of pieces or shrink to make themselves smaller. And this is a reality, that’s not my issue. It’s more that the opposite side isn’t explored. I don’t know why this seemed to be such an issue that came up many times.
I’d say 3.5 ⭐️ but rounding up.
December 1, 2022
Achingly intimate. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a short story collection that is so consistently good across the board while still having a few story standouts. I want to list my favorites but I feel as though I’d just be listing the table of contents. Thank you Sara for the recommendation!
January 26, 2024
Very solid, no duds. I hadn't felt as stressed in a while as I did reading the fairy one. Main critique was that many of the narrators felt a little similar.
July 27, 2023
3.75 — “algal bloom”, “is this you?” and “fruiting bodies” we’re my favourites
July 27, 2022
this put me through… such a range of emotions… fruiting bodies especially was very good but most of the stories had me quite captivated!!
June 13, 2023
4.5*
this is representation for sapphics who were inexplicably weird as children
this is representation for sapphics who were inexplicably weird as children
January 13, 2024
I’m so sorry Her body and other parties by Carmen Maria Machado and Salt Slow by Julia Armfield but A hot new bombshell has entered the villa
May 28, 2024
I want to crawl inside this strange fairytalish short story collection. The collection is tied together by explorations of the self, the body, girlhood, queerness, and more. I drafted a review that went over what I thought of every single story and then I remembered this is not a book report. That was unnecessary. But just know these stories are SO good. My favourites, in no particular order, were the eponymous "Fruiting Bodies," "Fool, Fiddler Pair," "Take Only What Belongs to You," and "Is This You?". Truly what I would give to read these stories again for the first time! (Note: check the content warnings on this book before reading! Some of the content is quite heavy, but I think ultimately managed carefully and sensitively.)
Very quick reviews of all of these stories:
"Algal Bloom" -- 4/5 (very strong start, establishes a lot of thematic material that harlan draws upon later)
"Hunting the Viper-King" -- 4.5/5 (so different from the first story; coming immediately after "algal bloom," this story impressively demonstrates the scope of harlan's storytelling abilities)
"The Changeling" -- 4/5 (the first that read as distinctly influenced by gothic fairytales; remarkable because of its tone, voice, and the tension that builds)
"Take Only What Belongs to You" -- 5/5 (yes archives!!!! makes me so emotional to think of all the people who become so alive to you, all their lives that live on only in their papers and through the people that read them)
"Fiddler, Fool Pair" -- 5/5 (so atmospheric, strange, and absolutely brilliant. this was the story that was like a turning point for me in this book because the others had been good so far, but this was great. this story is impressive in scope and creativity, and harlan pulls it off impeccably as a short story. fantasy short stories would usually be a very hard sell for me, but this was probably perfect.)
"Is This You?" -- 5/5 (i cried. like so much.)
"Fruiting Bodies" -- 5/5 (very striking prose featuring a clear narrative and vivid description. i won't write anything more because if i keep going i will never stop.)
"Endangered Animals" -- 3.5/5 (it was fine, but after how good each of the other stories were, this one was a little lackluster. it is not bad, just not great, but it does make for a good ending to the collection as readers are forcibly distanced from the narrative as the characters drive off into the distance)
Very quick reviews of all of these stories:
"Algal Bloom" -- 4/5 (very strong start, establishes a lot of thematic material that harlan draws upon later)
"Hunting the Viper-King" -- 4.5/5 (so different from the first story; coming immediately after "algal bloom," this story impressively demonstrates the scope of harlan's storytelling abilities)
"The Changeling" -- 4/5 (the first that read as distinctly influenced by gothic fairytales; remarkable because of its tone, voice, and the tension that builds)
"Take Only What Belongs to You" -- 5/5 (yes archives!!!! makes me so emotional to think of all the people who become so alive to you, all their lives that live on only in their papers and through the people that read them)
"Fiddler, Fool Pair" -- 5/5 (so atmospheric, strange, and absolutely brilliant. this was the story that was like a turning point for me in this book because the others had been good so far, but this was great. this story is impressive in scope and creativity, and harlan pulls it off impeccably as a short story. fantasy short stories would usually be a very hard sell for me, but this was probably perfect.)
"Is This You?" -- 5/5 (i cried. like so much.)
"Fruiting Bodies" -- 5/5 (very striking prose featuring a clear narrative and vivid description. i won't write anything more because if i keep going i will never stop.)
"Endangered Animals" -- 3.5/5 (it was fine, but after how good each of the other stories were, this one was a little lackluster. it is not bad, just not great, but it does make for a good ending to the collection as readers are forcibly distanced from the narrative as the characters drive off into the distance)
June 4, 2024
This was so so good and so interesting. All stories had such intense feelings of earthiness to them. Despite not being connected, there were threads that seemed to link the stories to one another. Favorite story was Fiddler, Fool Pair, with close second of Fruiting Bodies. The downfall of man theme highlighted when the Fiddler wins and ultimately, chooses to give her favor from the Oracle back to the man who lost everything. I will be thinking about this book for a while!!
July 6, 2023
i liked these a lot especially the gaylor adjacent one
July 15, 2024
Wow. Really loved a few of these stories -- the middle was the best, in my opinion.
Harlan was able to describe feelings I've never had someone else articulate before in writing, and that was quite special to read.
Algal Bloom (4/5)
Hunting the Viper-King (4/5)
The Changeling (4/5)
Take Only What Belongs to You (4/5)
Fiddler, Fool Pair (5/5)
Is This You? (5/5)
Fruiting Bodies (5/5)
Endangered Animals (3/5)
Harlan was able to describe feelings I've never had someone else articulate before in writing, and that was quite special to read.
Algal Bloom (4/5)
Hunting the Viper-King (4/5)
The Changeling (4/5)
Take Only What Belongs to You (4/5)
Fiddler, Fool Pair (5/5)
Is This You? (5/5)
Fruiting Bodies (5/5)
Endangered Animals (3/5)
October 16, 2023
I really enjoyed this short story collection. It's whimsical, a bit creepy, a bit gruesome and a bit dark. Perfect for autumn season.
April 26, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC
An extremely creative short story collection with the main topic being women and bodies. It's really hard to describe it in general but I can say this left a huge impression in me, the idea of each story could have been a whole book if the author wanted to. My favourites were The Changeling, how far can your beliefs go? Fiddler, Fool Pair, this was so dreamy, I also want to go and gamble parts of my body and mind for no good reason. Fruiting Bodies, beautiful and gross, dont you just love reading about a girl that grows mushrooms out of her body? And Endangered Animals which was really strange and left me with a sour taste at the end but that I loved regardless.
Every story was good, in my opinion, but there was a little bit of me feeling unsatisfied by the way the stories that I didnt name turned out.
But overall, pretty unforgettablewhich is what I think is the hardest thing a short story collection can do, but this one surely did so.
An extremely creative short story collection with the main topic being women and bodies. It's really hard to describe it in general but I can say this left a huge impression in me, the idea of each story could have been a whole book if the author wanted to. My favourites were The Changeling, how far can your beliefs go? Fiddler, Fool Pair, this was so dreamy, I also want to go and gamble parts of my body and mind for no good reason. Fruiting Bodies, beautiful and gross, dont you just love reading about a girl that grows mushrooms out of her body? And Endangered Animals which was really strange and left me with a sour taste at the end but that I loved regardless.
Every story was good, in my opinion, but there was a little bit of me feeling unsatisfied by the way the stories that I didnt name turned out.
But overall, pretty unforgettablewhich is what I think is the hardest thing a short story collection can do, but this one surely did so.
April 24, 2023
A great wide berth of not-so-similar-stories that held a weight similar to Shirley Jackson’s stories.
The title story and Viper-King were the most memorable and strange.
The title story and Viper-King were the most memorable and strange.
May 2, 2024
I loved this book. Thank you to Emma for the rec after reading Our Wives. I like the, despite having a wide ranges narrators and premises. This collection still felt really cohesive. Two stories it out to me most strongly. The first woman who continously is burdened by versions of herself as a child, I must do things like put them in front of TV, braid their hair and drop them off at her moms for babysitting. I think this is such a cool concept as so many women get Afton therapy. What would you say or do for your younger self if she were in front of you right now. Truly caring for your youngest self is much more like being an unwilling babysitter, then being healing and maternal character. Especially when maternity is a nebulous goal.
“She isn’t mine mom, she’s you… We can’t both be me.” “’I can’t hold this for you.’ you say instead ‘This is yours.’”
The second story I liked best was the titular one. Premised on a interdependent queer couple who find a straight man interjected into their lives. I actually loved this as a way to discuss how dominant straight culture still exersices so much ownership over queer women. There is truly no winning, as to play along, is to gain the distain of other women, yet to create friction, is to be, and unyielding distrustful force. I loved the ending.
“That if I learned how to really say no to her, I do not know if she would have loved me as much”
“’You can’t have that’ I said agin thinking that she has said she loved me. That anger did not kill love. Or that if it did, it killed it like amatoxin, over a long period with several lapses and relapses. ‘This is just for us’ Agnes had said. Had Agreed. Had Upheld. ‘This is just for us’”
“She isn’t mine mom, she’s you… We can’t both be me.” “’I can’t hold this for you.’ you say instead ‘This is yours.’”
The second story I liked best was the titular one. Premised on a interdependent queer couple who find a straight man interjected into their lives. I actually loved this as a way to discuss how dominant straight culture still exersices so much ownership over queer women. There is truly no winning, as to play along, is to gain the distain of other women, yet to create friction, is to be, and unyielding distrustful force. I loved the ending.
“That if I learned how to really say no to her, I do not know if she would have loved me as much”
“’You can’t have that’ I said agin thinking that she has said she loved me. That anger did not kill love. Or that if it did, it killed it like amatoxin, over a long period with several lapses and relapses. ‘This is just for us’ Agnes had said. Had Agreed. Had Upheld. ‘This is just for us’”
February 29, 2024
3.5 stars
fun, but I didn’t 100% vibe with the prose - something just didn’t quite *click* with me
nice, queer, environmentally-conscious fairytale-inspired short stories
really liked a couple stories and, on the whole, I would recommend!
fun, but I didn’t 100% vibe with the prose - something just didn’t quite *click* with me
nice, queer, environmentally-conscious fairytale-inspired short stories
really liked a couple stories and, on the whole, I would recommend!
March 20, 2024
very unsettling and eerie, loved it
August 27, 2023
all stories range from 4-5 stars ! a magical collection
January 2, 2023
stunningly beautiful and very consistent across all 8 stories. the kind of stories that are quiet while they spread through your chest so you don't notice until you start to ache.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 556 reviews