“Yu offers strong insights about sisterhood and the roles siblings fall into, but it’s her striking imagery that allows the most space for mystery and impact.”—Amiee Bende, New York Times
“The novel offers a deep message about survival and the importance of community . . . Along with emphasizing the interconnectedness between humanity and nature, Yu highlights the significance of family as central to one’s identity and resilience . . . During dark, despairing times, perhaps all we need to do is seek the light inside ourselves. Anchored in curiosity and wonder, Sunbirth is keenly introspective and strangely mesmerizing — a poetic, necessary call to “absorb the world, to endlessly store everything” around us. With its tantalizing story of families, secrets, and a world thrown into turmoil, Yu’s novel is a must-read work of speculative fiction.”—Nicole Yurcaba, Washington Independent Review of Books
“Marvelously dreamlike . . . . Haunting and beautiful, Sunbirth is an unsettling mystery that’s also a tender work about the pain of watching the degradation of a homeland one loves.”—Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Dizzying . . . Introspective and imaginative, expertly deploying speculative elements to examine identity, grief and existential longing with sublime emotional impact . . . for readers who love richly atmospheric novels or delight in mulling over the metaphysical alongside complicated family dynamics, Sunbirth is a surreal masterpiece to ponder with pleasure.”—Stephanie Harrison, BookPage
“Yu delivers an arresting story of two sisters grappling with their past as the gradual disappearance of the sun throws their town into chaos . . . This confirms Yu’s mastery of the mesmerizing and strange.”—Publishers Weekly
Spellbinding and atmospheric . . . With its quiet, dreamy bending of reality and its precise depiction of many different strains of alienation, Ghost Music is an evocative exploration of what it means to live fully—and the potential consequences of failing to do so . . . There’s something here of early Murakami’s graceful, open-ended approach to the uncanny, as well as the vivid yet muted emotionality of Patrick Modiano or Katie Kitamura.”—Alexandra Kleeman, New York Times Book Review
“An intriguing book that knits together music and life to touch on something profound.”—Claire Kohda, Guardian
“A novel haunted in every way—psychologically, philosophically, and literally. This intricate, eerie book leaves the reader with more questions than answers, the kind of uncanny questions that reverberate in your mind with a tinny echo of reality . . . Ghost Music shows us how we might find the trigger that wakes us up, forces us to confront our demons, and helps us heal.”—Washington Independent Review of Books
“Talking mushrooms, classical music, and the complexities of identity infuse a semisurreal novel that contrasts the immediacy of daily life in Beijing with a mesmerizing dreamscape . . . Simply told yet enigmatic . . . Dreamy and questioning, an unsettling novel composed of wistful notes.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Replete with dreamlike sequences, enclosed walls, and talking mushroom . . . Those who enjoyed Yu’s previous work or surrealistic fiction like Hiroko Oyamada’s The Hole will likely welcome her latest offering.”—Library Journal
“Ethereal . . . Beautifully metaphoric and insightful . . . Yu’s lyrical language and atmospheric descriptions bring out the contrast between Song Yan’s oppressive, superficial reality and the hypnotic world where she converses with fungi.”—BookPage
“This novel of grief, survival, and artistic ambitions captures the uncanny despair of loneliness and the liberating effort of beginning a new life.”—Isle McElroy, Vulture
“A melancholic, mysterious exploration of a young Beijing pianist grappling with family secrets, a distant husband and the meaning of music and expression . . . [Song Yan] remains an intriguing hero in her restrained, calm acceptance of her lot.”—Observer (UK)
“Beautiful prose and claustrophobic imagery . . . intensely evokes its protagonist’s alienation.”—New Statesman (UK)
“Yu mesmerizes with this surreal story of music and mushrooms . . . As Song Yan relentlessly surges toward independence and away from solitude and loneliness, Yu’s blistering narrative reaches a plaintive end. Readers will be enthralled.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An atmospheric study in disconnected relationships . . . Yu delivers another intimate, intricate performance.”—Booklist
“Juxtaposing unreal imagery and distinctive prose with very human characters, Ghost Music is a novel about learning to cope with lost dreams and missed opportunities.”—Foreword Reviews
“Often stunning . . . Mixes the real and the surreal, blurring dreamworlds and the everyday . . . Transporting, searching, and poetic, Yu’s weird, mutated storytelling wonderfully marries mundane and deep existential dilemmas.”—The List (UK)
“An Yu’s lush, delicate novel Ghost Music unfolds like Claude Debussy’s atmospheric piece for solo piano Rêverie, lulling the reader into protagonist Song Yan’s surrealistic daydream of a life. As the former pianist and young wife confronts the stark reality of her marriage with suppressed but deeply felt emotions, she begins to test the limits of her freedom and finds that like the mysterious mushrooms that appear in the mail and in her dreams, she, too, may thrive in darkness.”—Chris Cander, USA Today-bestselling author of The Weight of a Piano
“Enthralling and elegant, Ghost Music conjures a world I have never seen before: dreamlike, mysterious, suspenseful in the secrets it reveals, while always being grounded in the sensory. The narrator’s wise sensibility drew me in, but I stayed for the sentences—each one more astonishing than the next, they revealed an extraordinary depth of feeling. Like a Ryuichi Sakamoto composition, this novel casts a haunting spell.”—Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair
“Dreamlike and diurnal, haunted and lucid, ambivalent and hopeful, An Yu’s Ghost Music pulses with profound mystery. A disquieting, mesmerizing novel.”—Sara Freeman, author of Tides
“To read Ghost Music’s spare prose is to discover its cogency. Yu allows our quiet manias to grow apace with her staggering imagination. An Yu’s second novel affirms her as one of our most important writers.”—Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive
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