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Fruiting Bodies: Stories
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
10 posts | 6 read | 28 to read
This genre-bending debut collection of stories constructs eight eerie worlds full of desire, wisdom, and magic blooming amidst decay. In stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows charactersmostly queer, mostly womenon 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 magicaland dangerousgamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agness bodyuntil 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.
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review
Lindy
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Pickpick

A surprising collection of atmospheric queer stories that unsettled me yet kept me wanting more. Standouts include the title story, in which a woman has mushrooms growing out of her body, and The Changeling, which is from the viewpoint of a child who is certain her baby cousin was swapped by Fairies. #LGBTQ

sarahbarnes I remember really liking this collection when I read it. The story about the woman and the mushrooms still stands out in my mind. 3mo
Lindy @sarahbarnes I was glad that my book club discussed the book because there was one story I found too confusing and therefore didn‘t like—it‘s the one about Munchausen syndrome—and got a lot of insight by hearing from another reader why she really liked that story. 3mo
25 likes2 comments
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Lindy
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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“This is what fairies look like.”
I thought it made sense that fairies would be small things that crept on spindled legs sometimes instead of flying—that they would have narrow fragile bodies & be beautiful in a way that was neither human nor comforting, sharp at all their angles, and equipped with mandibles to sever the heads of their mates. Nothing magical is safe, nothing safe is magical. I knew that from reading fairytales.

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Lindy
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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The difference between a Shakespearean comedy and a Shakespearean tragedy is whether there‘s a marriage at the end. Here whatever has come before is answered with love, which means sex, which means children. Let‘s fuck and be plentiful. That‘s how you send death out of the room for a while.

Lindy Photo is from Bard on the Beach‘s performance of Twelfth Night in Vancouver in July 3mo
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blurb
AbstractMonica
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Beautiful collection of short stories. Every single one was fascinating in it‘s own way. I didn‘t really get into “Take Only What Belongs to You” I think I was too distracted while reading it. Really enjoyed all the rest. I think my favorites were Fiddler, Fool Pair and Endangered Animals.

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AbstractMonica
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Started this one a few days ago. Loved the first couple of stories, but I‘m having a hard time getting through the one I‘m currently on. Maybe my mind is too distracted 🙃

Reggie This is one of my favorite books of the year. I hope it picks up for you. 11mo
Chelsea.Poole I love this cover! 11mo
9 likes2 comments
review
Tara
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Pickpick

So many gems in this collection! Stories featuring mostly lesbian or bi women, lots of the stories have themes of climate change and have elements of magical realism. I‘m not always a short story person, but I found these really rich and immersive. Favorite here was “Fiddler, Fool, Pair” but really all of them are great.

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Addison_Reads
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Pickpick

It is very rare that I find myself loving every short story in a collection but this collection spoke to my soul while reading it. 💚

The writing is superb and each story felt like a magical journey, whether into a fairytale setting or in a library with a character soul searching for answers, I loved them all.

I wish this had made the shortlist for #ToB23, but I'm thankful it was on the longlist or I might have missed out on it.

Reggie I love, love, loved this book! The one about the couple who goes to read the papers of the author she loved so much. And the one where the girl plays “poker” with the fae. 2y
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review
Reggie
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Pickpick

I felt like I was in a relationship with this book of 8 short stories. The last story is about a goodbye and ending of sorts while realizing there is still beauty in the world and I‘m crying because I felt like the book in the gentlest of ways also broke up with me. All of these stories had a female protagonist. Most if not all were lesbian. All were fantastic. Harlan really loves a fairytale mashup. Just so effing good. There is one about 👇🏼

Reggie a mother and daughter that would speak to every mother on Litsy and maybe the daughter they once were. There was a story about a girl who plays “poker” underneath a hill with the Fae that spoke to the casino worker in me when you realize what people will give up for a thrill. The titular story would knock your socks off. All the stars. Pick! 2y
Chelsea.Poole Great review! That cover! 🤩 2y
Addison_Reads I have this one on hold and now I really can't wait to read it. 2y
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sarahbarnes I really loved Fiddler, Fool Pair as well. Agreed it‘s a great collection of stories - I‘m still thinking about them. 2y
Megabooks I have to stack it now!! 🤩🤩 2y
Centique This sounds AMAZING 😍 2y
Reggie @Chelsea.Poole Thanks! Yeah, it‘s beautiful. 2y
Reggie @Addison_Reads @Megabooks @Centique if you ladies read it and need to talk about a story please come comment here. I get revved up just thinking about these stories. 2y
vivastory Have you seen the South Korean movie The Wailing? I just watched it. 2y
Reggie @vivastory I have. I was lucky to watch it with a friend from South Korea who explained some of the stuff to me. Like the woman was an Angel and the guy with the diaper underwear was Japanese and a demon if I remember correctly. I remember that the little girl acted her *** off and he told me she won a children‘s acting award for it (edited) 2y
Reggie I liked it. It was very intense 2y
Reggie @vivastory also if you ever have the chance to see the S.Korean movie called The Chaser, that was crazy intense. 2y
vivastory That's awesome that you were able to see it with someone from s. Korea. That would be a bit enlightening for sure. South Korean cinema is a special kind of intense & dark. I feel like I might need therapy now, lol. 2y
vivastory I watched The Chaser years ago and recall liking it. If I recall it has an actor from I Saw the Devil, another favorite S Korean movie 2y
Reggie @vivastory lol, yeah they‘re on a whole nuther level of dark. I haven‘t seen I Saw the Devil but it was on Shudder‘s top 100 moments so it got back on my radar. 2y
Rissreads Sold! ♥️ 2y
74 likes12 stack adds16 comments
blurb
Reggie
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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This is how I feel just having read this short 28 page story. Esther and Cora are on their first vacation together as a couple and Cora is cool enough to let Esther spend 2 days at the Library of Congress looking through boxes of correspondence and works of her favorite gothic writer, Anais Casey. Harlan builds this universe by providing passages from some of Casey‘s books, letters to and from friends and family, end even passages from 👇🏼

Reggie some of her biographies. It made me think of you pemberlittens and some of you Littens who love a good author biography. But as we go further we see the obsession Esther has with Anais because her writing is the first to affirm the feelings she had as one who loves other women. But then Anais turned out to be married and and had kids. And you get this feeling of triangles being forced into circle shaped holes and you realize who cares as long👇🏼 2y
Reggie what you read was the one thing you needed to read at that exact moment in your life. This story was so good. Mr. Hollywood, if you follow me please make this the next Lesbian romantic, tour de force, wins all the awards, movie. That is all. 2y
vivastory The fact that both you & @sarahbarnes have good things to say about this author is making me stack this!! 2y
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sarahbarnes This story was definitely my favorite from the collection. So good. It stirred up a lot of emotions for me as I was often doing this with the women writers I read in college - looking for affirmation of feelings I couldn‘t talk about with real people. @vivastory I‘ll be interested in your thoughts if you read it! 2y
Reggie @sarahbarnes I work at a casino and the story right after this one got to me, the one about the girl playing “poker” with the fae. How people can easily give up something for a thrill. The one about the mother and daughter kinda shook me up. I could probably name all of them they were that good. @vivastory these are next to Laura Mauro and Marianna Enriquez for me. That good. I hope you read them. 2y
sarahbarnes Yes to both of those! Also the one with the father and daughter looking for the snake! 2y
73 likes2 stack adds6 comments
review
sarahbarnes
Fruiting Bodies: Stories | Kathryn Harlan
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Pickpick

I like short stories to surprise me, to be bizarre, unsettling glimpses into human nature. This collection delivered on that. As usual, I liked some stories in the collection better than others, but overall it was very good. My favorites are definitely Take Only What Belongs to You and Fiddler, Fool Pair. Didn‘t make the shortlist, along with many others I‘ve enjoyed. 🤷🏻‍♀️#ToB2023

SamAnne I love the title. 2y
batsy Yes, great title and cover! Sounds really different and interesting based on your review. 2y
Megabooks I was unsure about this, but I like many stories for the same reason. #stacked! 2y
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squirrelbrain Great review! I was interested in this but, of course, it‘s not available over here. 2y
Chelsea.Poole @batsy agree— love that cover. Not sure I‘ll make it around to this since it didn‘t make the shortlist. 2y
Hooked_on_books I wasn‘t sure on this one, but it‘s available on Scribd, so since it‘s good, I‘ll give it a try! Great review! 2y
Ruthiella Short stories are not my thing. I rarely remember them, unlike novels. 2y
32 likes3 stack adds7 comments